The 93rd Annual Hunger Games
by AvenueEY
Summary: The rebellion failed and President Snow's secretary, now president, Pate has taken over Panem. The Hunger Games have continued for another nearly 20 years. This was an SYOT I wrote for my friends and they convinced me to put it online. *Now Complete*
1. Reapings 1 and 2

The Reaping: District 1 (Jewell's PoV)

My mother was finishing tying the back of my shimmery gold dress. She rattled on about things like "remember your posture…keep smiling…you need to look beautiful for the reaping."

"Mother, I'm always beautiful," I reminded her. I admired my curled chocolate brown hair and adjusted my turquoise necklace into just the right spot. I smiled at my reflection. "Okay, I'm ready to go now," I announced.

This was going to be the biggest day of my life, until I win the hunger games of coarse. I had been training my whole life for these games, and now that I'm eighteen it's my time to volunteer.

After getting my identity checked and watching the promotional video, our escort, Bliss Icing, stepped up to the podium. She's a proper woman with an elaborate purple updo. She can be very irritating at times, but she's a capitol citizen, so I respect her. She put her overdone lips close to the microphone. "Hello district one, I'm so happy to be here."

_Who isn't,_ I thought. Our's is the most luxurious of all the districts. I feel sorry for the saps that get stuck escorting for 11 or 12.

"Happy Hunger Games and may the odds be ever in your favor," she spoke the traditional words. "Now ladies," she began."

"I volunteer," I said loudly and clearly. Several of my friends cheered for me.

"How wonderful," Bliss said as I walked onstage. "And what's your name?"

"Jewell Hanglow," I replied confidently.

"Well alright then. Shall we move on to the boys?" Before she could even make it to the other side of the stage, a voice emerged from the crowd.

"I volunteer," called a muscular boy with tanned skin and curly blond hair. "I'm Worth Richmond."

"Well hello there Worth," Bliss said seductively. I would have gagged if I weren't trying to maintain an image. This woman was in her forties and she was trying to flirt with our 18 year old tribute. God, what a cougar. I simply stood there and smiled though._ Respect the capitol Jewell, respect the capitol._

"It looks like district one has a very good chance of winning this year," she gushed.

"When don't we?" Worth pointed out. I giggled. He made a point. Because of our career academy, district one almost always wins.

"All right, Jewell, Worth, shake hands," she instructed. "Ladies and Gentlemen. I present to you, your tributes for the 93rd annual hunger games."

Soon enough I wouldn't be just a tribute, I would be a victor. I was going to win.

The Reaping: District 2 (Scoria's PoV)

"Stop," I complained as the brush tugged on my hair.

"It's custom that children get dressed up for reaping day," My know-it-all sister Topaz, repeated for the millionth time this morning.

"You already forced me into this stupid skirt," I moaned.

"And now we have to manage your hair," she explained while pulling my dirty-blonde hair into a tight barrette.

"There," she said holding a mirror in front of me, "now you look…decent."

I absolutely _hated_ this outfit. A silk, black, button down collar shirt and a flowy white knee length skirt. I'd so much rather be wearing my ripped jeans and a T-shirt.

"Come on," Topaz tugged on my arm, "we have to see who gets picked for the hunger games."

I hate the hunger games. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally okay with killing, but killing isn't a sport. In my district, almost everyone loves the capitol, but not me. I hate them and their games. I had to stop them, so this year I knew I had to do something drastic.

As we walked into Town Square, I was spotted by my friend, Shale Quinroy, who started bursting out laughing. "Oh don't act like you're not wearing the stupidest thing ever too," I retorted.

He looked down at his tie and shut up about my clothes. "Are you nervous about getting reaped?" he asked.

"Oh I'm not gonna get reaped," I said nonchalantly.

"How can you be sure," His panicked voice was becoming strained. "Your names in there six times and not many people take tessera so that a lot-"

"Just trust me," I smirked. I walked over to the girls' side and our escort, Sapphire Cansen skipped onstage. I can't stand that perky capitol chic.

"Hi hi hi everyone," she crooned. "Happy hunger games and may the odds be ever in your favor. Now ladies do we have any volunteers?"

"I do," I announced.

All eyes were on me, but no one looked surprised, it wasn't exactly uncommon for someone in district 2 to volunteer.

"How exciting," Sapphire trilled. "And what's your name sweetie?"

"Scoria Zimmerman," I said trying to ignore the fact that she just called me _sweetie._

"How lovely. Well I look foreword to watching you compete. Now on to the boys," she continued.

"I volunteer," called Shale's all too familiar voice.

_Oh God no, _I wanted to scream. What was he thinking?


	2. Reapings 3 and 4

**Author's note: I'm going to write the reapings for each district, so you guys can get to know the characters, but as I get farther on in the story, I'll just write in the main characters' points of view.**

* * *

The Reaping: District 3 (Navitia's PoV)

I grabbed my only dress clothes from out of my closet, a white buttoned blouse and dark green knee length skirt. I hastily put them on before rushing down to the kitchen to see my parents. They quickly embraced me into a tight hug. "You look beautiful, darling," my dad told me.

"Thanks," I smiled.

"How many times is your name in there again?" My mom asked.

Since I'm eighteen I have the automatic ten slips of paper in the reaping, plus 21 more times for the tessera that I've been taking for my family since I was twelve. "Twenty eight," I replied.

They grimaced. "Well at least this is your last one," My mom said trying to stay optimistic. She glanced at the kitchen clock, "Oh! You need to get going right now," she exclaimed.

I said goodbye to my cat, Jeremiah, and headed for Town Square. After getting confirmed as Navitia Hubbard, I met up with some other girls my age. We're not exactly close, but we we're all thinking the same thing. We all we're hoping to make it through our final reaping alive.

"Welcome to the reaping of the 93rd annual hunger games," our escort, Prine Mullburry's voice echoed throughout the town. She flashed us one of her signature way too white smiles that matched her snow colored hair. "Let's get to it," she began.

"Ladies first," she said as she was putting on her reaping gloves. She stuck her hand into a bowl filled with tiny slips of paper until she pulled one unlucky name out.

"Navitia Hubbard."

My throat went dry. The other girls looked relieved, but still sympathetic as they made a path for me. I steadily walked onstage. Prine examined me for a moment. "We're gonna have to get you some contacts," she stated. I pushed my oval glasses back to the rim of my nose and looked down shyly.

"And your male tribute is…Gaylord Hutch."

There we're many giggles after his name, however he just pompously walked onstage. I couldn't help staring at him. People were supposed to get dressed up for the reaping, but this boy was in a full out tuxedo.

"Shake hands," Prine commanded.

As we grabbed hands, so many thoughts ran through my head. I didn't want to kill people, but I wanted to win.

The Reaping: District 4 (Zilla' PoV)

I finished putting the small blue bow in my curly red hair. It matched the royal blue belt on my white sundress. I twirled in the mirror. I had to admit, I actually looked somewhat pretty, but I hated why I had to dress up. The reaping was today, and it was nerve wrecking to think about who might get chosen to compete in the Hunger Games. Granted, my name's only in there three times and that's a lot less than some people, but I still felt like I was going to pass out.

"There's no way you could get reaped. We live in a career district, some one will volunteer," my little sister Pomelina tried to reason, but I could still sense the uncertainty in her voice.

"Yeah, people from here usually think the hunger games are gonna be fun," Farrell added.

If I thought the reapings were bad now. I can't imagine what it will be like when both of my sisters are eligible to be reaped.

Right before I got my identity checked, I had to send them off to stand with the adults.

"Good luck," Farrell told me in a soft voice.

I squeezed them tightly, "I love you guys."

"Keep it moving," A burly peacekeeper ordered.

Just then our escort, Aqualina Virce, appeared. I never liked her. She's strict, greedy, and she loves to use her job as a publicity stunt. "Let's start with the ladies."

We all held our breath as she dug her fake nails into the glass bowl. "Zilla McCarthi," she called.

Me, and my intense fear of harming others, was going to be in the hunger games. This should turn out well.

"Where are you child?" Aqualina's shrill voice questioned. I felt dizzy and dazed as I walked onstage. "Looks like a young one," she commented. "What are you, twelve?"

"Fourteen," I mumbled.

"Speak clearly," she ordered.

"Fourteen," I spoke a little louder. Aqualina, however, seemed to be done with me, for she already had her hand in the boys bowl and was fishing around in it.

I looked around at the tense young men. Something wasn't making sense. This was one of the most popular career districts. Most kids spend their whole lives training, illegally, so they can win, but there wasn't a single volunteer. Come to think of it, we hadn't had on in years.

After keeping her hand in there for nearly a minute, she finally pulled out a small slip of paper.

"Flux Maxwell."

The relieved boys made a path revealing Flux to be a tall, dark haired boy around sixteen or seventeen. As he walked onstage he didn't look cocky, but he did have energy.

"That's brother," piped a toddler from the crowd. The crying mother hushed her son.

"Now shake hands," Aqualina began, "and try to make your goodbye's quick. We've got a lot to do."


	3. Reapings 5 and 6

**Author's Note: Beware, the district 6 boy is a perv.**

* * *

The Reaping: District 5 (Zofia's PoV)

I absolutely loathed today. The hunger games are a cruel barbaric way of keeping power, and kids have to enter by a raffle. President Pate is just like Snow, a sick and twisted man.

I pulled on my red sweater and black dress pants. I don't care how dressed up the capitol wants us to be, never under any circumstances am I wearing a frilly skirt.

"You need to go," my younger brother Rhett called. The only reason he was fine today is because his name isn't in that glass bowl 20 times. Four for being fifteen, 16 for tesserae.

When I got to Town Square I met up with two of my friends, Corina and Lily. They we're both in dresses, although Lily seemed to be much happier in her pink one than Corina did in her red one.

"Aw I wanted you to wear a dress," Lily said disappointedly.

"I don't own a dress," I pointed out.

She pouted. "Well I want you to wear something pretty." She looked around and eventually down at her own neck. She unclasped the large diamond and placed it around my neck. "There," she said smiling.

"Lily, I couldn't," I began. The necklace was beautiful and all, but I couldn't just take it from her.

"Don't be silly," she said happily, "I want you to have it."

"It's starting," Corina pointed to the stage where our escort, Janelle Natherson was walking in inhumanly high heels. "Welcome. Let us see who will have the honor to represent district 5 in the 93rd annual hunger games," She announced, and then walked over to the girls' bowl. She rolled up her sleeves and dug into the slips of paper. "Zofia Firth," she called.

I was astonished. I hated the hunger games and I most certainly should not have to play them. When I walked onstage, I whispered to Janelle. "Killing is against my morals, so I can't compete in the games."

She merely laughed. "You don't understand. The capitol is all-powerful. You could die in the bloodbath for all we care, but you have to compete."

I wanted to retaliate, but she had already picked out the boys' name.

"Wytuss Yule."

He didn't look shocked, or mad, or scared. It was hard to tell whether he had any emotion about this at all. He shook my hand rather reluctantly, and then we had to go get ready to leave.

Like I said earlier, I absolutely loathed today.

The Reaping: District 6 (Daxon's PoV)

I stood in Town Square, only half listening to my brother. "I don't think you should be worried, this is your last reaping. I made it through all of mine safely."

I didn't care at all about what Talon had to say, I was to busy watching the district 6 escort and her fabulous curves flounce onstage. She's a total slut, but that's what I love about her. "All right, now before we start the reaping I have a video," Twyla Totkin announced. She attentively watched the capitol video. I attentively watched her low cut shirt.

After about three minutes had passed, she stepped back up to the microphone. "Okay, ladies do we have any volunteers?"

"I do," called a female voice. She stepped out of the crowd revealing a red miniskirt, fishnet tight, and a black tube top that was practically see through allowing me to see much of her dark skin. "I'm Lucinda Vanderbush and I volunteer," she said.

That girl was pure sex. I had to be with her, even if it was only for a little bit. "I volunteer," I screamed.

"What? What are you thinking," Talon exclaimed, but I just ignored him and ran onstage. "I volunteer."

"And what's your name," Twyla asked.

"Daxon Kitt," I replied firmly.

"Okay you two, shake hands."

I happily did just that.

Twyla clapped and squealed. "Isn't this exciting? For the first time ever district six has two volunteers!"


	4. Reapings 7 and 8

The Reaping: District 7 (Willow's PoV)

I finished tying my strawberry blonde hair into a long braid. I set it behind my shoulder and examined myself in the mirror. I had a white tank top dress that hung just above my knees with a tan belt around my waist. Finally I grabbed my gold pendent. For the past 93 years, the women in my family had worn it at the reapings to keep them safe. I gently placed it around my neck and headed for Town Square.

I was prepared. I don't want to get picked, and I certainly wasn't going to volunteer, but for the past four years, I've been training myself how to hunt. It's nothing compared to what the careers learn, but I figure I should know a little something just in case.

I groaned as I watched our escort, Vibia Scott, skip onstage. She gets on my nerves, She's what you call a dumb blonde, well technically speaking she's a dumb blue haired girl. I swear. I will never understand capitol fashion.

Vibia giggled as she drew a name out. "Oops! I accidently picked the boy first," she smiled. "Oh well, district 7, your male tribute is Cutter Dlash."

He ran onstage. "I trust that I can win these games because Tim Tebow will give me the power," he announced, and then jumped into a position with his left elbow on his left knee. Tim Tebow is this ancient sportsperson that Cutter idolizes.

Honestly, the boy's so annoying; I don't even feel bad that he got reaped. I feel bad for the poor chick who's stuck being his tribute partner.

"Willow Thorne will be your female tribute."

I face palmed in defeat.

The Reaping: District 8 (Denim's PoV)

"At least our name's are only in there four times," My sister, Velvet, said as she brushed through her thick blonde hair.

"About that," our mom cut in. "Your names are in the reaping 36 times each. I had to take a lot of tesserae."

"What!" Velvet exclaimed, "but we didn't need that."

"Yeah, she barely eats," I added.

"Oh the foods not for eating," our mom corrected. "I sell the food for money. Liquor is expensive."

Velvet and I scoffed simultaneously. As siblings we get on each other's nerves a lot, but we can always unite under a common enemy: our parents.

"Now get to the reaping," our mom told us, "I don't want peacekeepers coming."

We headed to town square, cussing about our parents every step of the way. "This is a new low for her," Velvet complained. "I can't believe she sold out her own kids for damn alcohol. I swear if I get reaped, she'll have hell to pay when I get back."

"Like you'd make it put of the arena," I mocked.

"I'd make it farther than you," she retorted.

I'd never admit it out loud, but she was probably right. Velvet had a major temper and a tendency to be violent.

We had to move to our separate sides when the ceremony began. Our escort, Chiffon Treader went on about how the hunger games were a wonderful opportunity to visit the capitol and represent district 8. I didn't really pay attention. Nobody really pays attention until she sticks her hand into the glass bowl.

"And your female tribute will be…Modesty Mellancoy."

A bunch of girls sighed of relief. I did too. If Velvet's name wasn't picked, then my chances of being chosen must not be as big as I thought.

Meanwhile, Modesty just confidently walked onstage. She pulled the microphone away from Chiffon. "I would like to give a speech about how short skirts are ruining society."

Chiffon just eyed her weirdly for a moment before responding "no."

She moved on to the boy's bowl. "Your male tribute is…Denim Esterlee."

My heart sank right into my stomach.

"Come on up here, don't be shy," Chiffon urged.

I made my way onstage quickly to avoid being escorted by peacekeepers up there.

"All right tributes, shake hands," she told us.

Modesty acted like touching was a deadly sin. Living in the same vicinity as her was going to be awkward.

She looked at my red button down shirt disapprovingly. "That shirt needs to be buttoned up all the way."

Yeah, this next week was going to be very awkward.


	5. Reapings 9 and 10

The Reaping: District 9 (Maizey's PoV)

I put on my white, cuff sleeved blouse and tan pencil skirt, then secured my golden hair into a tight side ponytail. I had to look extra pretty today for the reaping. It's very unlikely that I'll get picked, but it's still custom. My parents wished me luck, but I was to busy hoping that this years tributes are ugly, because people from here don't usually make it very far.

As usual, we watched the Capitol video and our escort, Delphine Madison, gave her little speech. "What an exciting day this is. Two of you children will have the honor of representing district 9 in the 93rd annual hunger games. Let's start with the girls."

She reached her bedazzled nails into the giant glass bowl and pulled out the name of one unlucky chick.

"Maizey Rayrinte."

"What!" I exclaimed. Then I suddenly realized that everyone was looking at me. I quickly gave a fierce look and confidently walked onstage. After all, I was a competitor now.

Delphine walked to the other side of the stage, her 8-inch heels clicking every step of the way, and picked a boy tribute.

"Archer Danbone."

He was a blond boy about my size. I didn't recognize him from school, so I figured he must be a couple of years younger than me. He looked awful nervous. He unsteadily walked onstage and we shook hands.

I was so mad that no one volunteered for me. So much for ugly tributes.

The Reaping: District 10 (Cadwell's PoV)

I wish I was a girl.

It's not that I don't like my…you know, never mind. But girls don't have to worry about getting reaped. For the past couple of years district ten has had girl volunteers, but even though no one's planning on volunteering this year, they still don't have to worry because of G-g-g. She's this fat annoying ugly girl that **EVERYONE** hates, and her name is in the reaping over 600 times. She took so much tesserae because she eats so much. Unfortunately for me, there's no super fat unlikeable guy to keep me from worrying.

I looked up to see that the capitol video was done. Crap. I had to stop spacing off, this was the important part.

Our escort, Arletta Conn, flipped her pink hair then stuck her hand into the tribute bowl. "Your female tribute is….G-g-g."

Everybody started clapping, not because we thought she could win, but because we we're all so happy that she was finally gonna die.

"And your male tribute is…Cadwell Oberdot.

Oh God! This couldn't be happening. I shot a hopeful glance at my older brother. Sometimes older siblings will volunteer to save younger siblings, but I got nothing. _Thanks Griffin,_ I thought sarcastically.

The people of my district looked at me sympathetically. They felt sorry for me. Not because I was a fourteen year old boy about to go into a fight to the death, but because I had to spend a week with G-g-g.

"Now normally the tributes shake hands," Arletta began, "but no one deserves that, so let's just head to the train."


	6. Reapings 11 and 12

The Reaping: District 11 (Chrissy's PoV)

_"Chrysanthemum and Reuben Xenobeth, district eleven's tributes for the 93__rd__ Hunger Games!"_

"No!" I screamed. Everything was shaking.

"Chrissy wake up," I saw Reuben standing above me, and thankfully not in the hunger games arena. I let out a huge sigh of relief. "It was only a dream."

"About the reaping?" Reuben asked. I nodded. Ever since he became eligible for the reaping, the dreams became even worse, and since he's my _brother_, even if he is picked, I can't volunteer for him. "We should probably get ready," he told me.

I searched through my closet and eventually decided on a white peasant blouse and a blue flowy skirt. For the finishing touch, I clipped a white lily into my wavy blonde hair.

Quickly and quietly, I took Reuben outside to avoid our mom. I love her and all, but I was so not in the mood for old people thinking their cool, I'd get enough of that from our escort, Lilac Twang. After my brother and I got signed in, I told him to go over to the boys' section. "Meet me at home afterwards."

In the girls' section, I met up with my friend, Amaryllis Sinclair. She lives in the rich part of town with me, so we've never had to apply for tesserae, but that didn't mean we weren't scared.

"Hey! Hey besties, who's ready for the reaping?" Lilac announced. I face palmed. I swear this lady was like a purple skinned, green haired, heel wearing capitol version of my mom.

"Okay eleveners, today we're gonna shake things up and pick our boy tribute first," she paused for dramatic effect and waited for everyone to be shocked. No one was. Lilac dug her hand into the bowl.

_Please don't be Reuben,_ I prayed._ Please, please, please. He's only twelve. He wouldn't be able to make it very far. Please._

"Basil Mahoganey."

I sighed. My little brother was safe. I was so relieved. In fact, I was so relieved that I didn't even realize that the girl tribute was Chrysanthemum Xenobeth.

Amaryllis wrapped me in a tight hug. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Me?" I stammered. Everyone was staring. My brother was crying. I wasn't listening, but I knew I was going to be in the hunger games. I blinked back my tears, headed for the stage and shook hands with Basil. I wiped my eyes so I could see clearer. He was really cute.

The Reaping: District 12 (Ashby's PoV)

"Here, wear these," our mom handed Adina and I our reaping dresses. They were both halter-top dresses that reached our knees. One had a dark green floral print and the other was light blue with polka dots.

"Which one do you want?" Adina asked.

"It doesn't matter," I said secretly hoping for the green one.

She raised an eyebrow. "You want the green one, don't you?"

"Kind of," I giggled guiltily.

"Here," she said tossing it to me.

"It's like we can read each other's minds," I told her.

She smirked. "We're identical twins, it's kind of our thing."

After we got dressed, we hugged each of our parents then headed to Town Square for the reaping.

"Looking good," Sage commented. Adina rolled her eyes. I just smiled shyly. I've had a crush on Sage for a while now. "I can't believe it's our first reaping already," he continued, "are you nervous?"

"Us?" I asked. "It's you who should be worried. All three of us have to take tesserae for our families, but at least Adina and I can split ours."

"Ashby calm down," Adina told me. "It's not uncommon for twelve year olds to be scared at reapings."

Suddenly, a peacekeeper tapped Sage. " Hey you, this is the girls' side."

"I know I'm a boy," Sage retorted. "Do you want me to prove it?"

I had to cover my mouth with my hands to keep from laughing.

"I'll see you afterwards," Sage said before leaving.

Our escort was Ottilie Marz. At nineteen she was the youngest escort for the games. She also had a bright pink bob and way too much makeup. I didn't hate her though. She at least tries to pretend that she doesn't completely despise district 12.

"Hello and welcome everyone. It's a big big day. It's the district 12 reaping for the 93rd annual hunger games," she practically sang.

"And may the odds be ever in your favor," Adina and I muttered with her.

"Ladies first." She stuck her hand into the glass bowl. I tried to relax. After all, only two of those slips read…

"Ashby Durwood."

My eyes widened and my throat went dry.

"Do you want me-" Adina began, but I cut her off, "No." I knew she was going to ask me if I wanted her to volunteer for me, but I couldn't have her do that. My name was picked and I had to own up to it.

I put on a brave face and walked onstage. "What a lovely dress, " Ottilie gushed.

"Thank you," I mustered out.

"Now for your male tribute….Sage Ation."

That nearly killed me. I could tell he was pretending not to be scared too.

I waited until the cameras were on Ottilie, while she made her little 'the capitol is wonderful' speech, so I could talk to Sage.

"What are we gonna do?" I whispered.

"We're both making it out of that arena," he answered defiantly.

"How?" I asked.

He thought for a moment. "Well remember those two people from 12 who won the hunger games together."

"Yes, and then they started a rebellion that failed and then they were executed, "I reminded him.

"Oh yeah," his face fell, "but if only one of us can come home, it has to be you."

"Wh-why me?" I stammered.

"Because you have a family to come back to," he replied.

"So do you," I told him.

"Yeah, but your's want you to come back."


	7. Goodbyes

Goodbyes (Scoria's PoV)

As we exited the stage, I hit Shale's arm several times. "What were you thinking? Volunteering?"

"I just wanted to protect you," he stammered while clutching his new bruises.

"Protect me?" I exclaimed. "I don't need protection. I volunteered for the hunger games because I know I could handle it. I had a plan to win and it involved me going into the arena with some random boy who I'd be okay with killing, not you."

Shale cocked an eyebrow and smirked. "So you wouldn't be okay with killing me?"

"Just shut up," I groaned.

One of the peacekeepers opened the door. "There are some people here to see you." He stepped aside to let Shale's and my families in.

"Scoria Zimmerman how dare you volunteer for the hunger games without even consulting me first," my mom scolded.

"Yeah that was a really stupid thing to do," Topaz agreed. The two of them ranted on about how I'm impulsive and cocky and a bunch of other stuff, but my dad had a different opinion.

"Congratulations Scoria. I know you're going to win. And I want you to have this be the token of your district," he handed me a small handgun.

I know you can't bring weapons into the arena, but capitol people are stupid, so I'd find some way around that rule.

"Now," he continued, "You should take as many weapons as you can from the cornucopia."

"How can you tell her that?" My mom cut him off.

My parents have been wanting a divorce for six years, so they're always arguing. They started such a fight that the peacekeepers had to make them leave. By then our time was almost up, so Shale and I just got on the train and left district two.

Goodbyes (Zilla's PoV)

Luckily we got some time to say goodbye to people before heading on the train. Flux's family was here. A stern father, a mother in complete hysterics, and three little brothers barely old enough to know what was going on.

My parents didn't show up, not that I expected them to, they made it very clear yesterday that if I got reaped all it would mean to them was 'one less mouth to feed.'

My sisters did come though. They both wrapped me in a tight embrace, their tears causing the front of my sundress to become damp.

"I just can't believe it," Pomelina sobbed. "Out of all the names to get drawn, they pick yours. I can't watch you in a fight to the death. I just can't."

Farrell wiped her eyes, then took the small fishbone bracelet off her wrist and placed it into my hands.

"But this is yours," I said confused.

"And now it's your token," she told me. "Please use it," she asked with wide green eyes.

"Of coarse," I replied.

"All right, wrap it up, we don't have all day you know," Aqualina snapped.

"We'll miss you," Pomelina said before leaving. I had a bad feeling that they'd be missing me long after the games were over.

Goodbyes (Chrissy's PoV)

"There's someone here to see you," a peacekeeper told me before opening the door. Amaryllis rushed in.

"Oh Chrissy I'm so sorry. I would've been here sooner, but I had to run home real quick and grab something," she explained. She dug into her small purse and grabbed a gold chain necklace with a chrysanthemum pendent. "I figured you'd like the flower since it matches your name, and I thought if you didn't have a token you might wanna use this. I was going to give it to you for your birthday, but now seemed like a better time," she rambled on while trying not to cry.

I stared at the necklace in awe. "Amaryllis it's beautiful. How could I ever repay you…"

"Come back," she finished for me. "I'll leave you some time to talk to your family," she added.

When my family arrived, my parents went on about how even though I'll be in a killing arena, I should still always try to do the right thing, but all I could do was pay attention to how broken Reuben looked.

"Mom, dad," I interrupted. "Can I have a little time to talk to Reuben alone?"

My mom scowled at me, "You know how I feel about private conversations-"

"But given the circumstances," my dad cut her off.

"I don't want you to die," Rueben told me. He looked so sad; I didn't even know how to respond. "You will try to win won't you," he pleaded.

"Of coarse," I answered. "I will try as hard as I can to comeback to you. I promise."


	8. Train Rides

Train Ride (Flux's PoV)

The capitol trains go so fast you don't even feel like you're moving.

"Where is that good-for-nothing mentor of yours?" Aqualina asked irritated. "I'll find him." She marched down the train carts shouting "Schuyler!"

I didn't want this ride be silent and awkward, plus I love to talk, so I decided to try to start a conversation with the girl tribute.

"Have you ever met him?" I asked.

"No," Zilla replied. "You?"

"Nah," I answered. "All I know is he won when he was fourteen."

"Fourteen? That's my age," she asked astounded.

"Really you're fourteen," I asked.

"Yeah, yeah I know I look twelve," she said, her cheeks turning red.

"I would've guessed you were fifteen," I commented hoping it would make her feel better.

She smiled shyly, but that quickly faded once our mentor walked in.

Schuyler Miscage was a tall muscular man in his mid twenties with pale skin and light brown hair, but the most noticeable trait about him was that he looked like he really didn't want to be here, but of coarse I didn't care.

"What?" he asked annoyed.

"Tell us how to win," I asked confidently, or demanded. I'm not really sure how it came off as.

Schuyler scoffed. "Why should I help you?"

"I can see why district four has been losing for the past ten years," Zilla observed. He rolled his eyes at her and sneered.

"Listen," I spoke up, "were going to be in the arena in a week and I don't want to die, so tell us something useful or I'll-"

"Or you'll what," he challenged.

Some people call me impulsive and I guess they're right, because without thinking I charged for him ready to attack. Sadly, he was able to flip me over effortlessly and pin me to the ground. "Let me be very clear," he told me. "I'm in charge, so shut up, don't bother me and I'll only help if I feel like it."

If we were going to be doing things like this, then so be it. I knew how to be difficult. "You have to want us to win," I pointed out.

He finally took his hand off to let me up and stared at me in confusion. "Why would I want you to win? I've known you for what, like two minutes and you're already turning out to be the two most annoying people I've ever met."

"True, you may not like us," I said calmly, "but you hate your job."

Zilla caught on with what I was trying to do and helped. "You're probably just dying to give it off to a new victor."

Schuyler was starting to get uncomfortable, but he was trying to hide it. "So what? This is a career district, there'll probably be a victor within a year," he stated.

"You're right, it could be a year," I began.

"Or it could be another ten years," Zilla added.

The two of us smirked and stared him down. Zilla seemed pretty cool. We were probably gonna get along well. As for Schuyler and I, that's another story.

Train Ride (Chrissy's PoV)

After visiting time was up we were on the train within minutes.

"Oh you are going to love capitol fashion," Lilac gushed. "This year blue eyelashes are very in-"

"Oh my God Lilac shut up," a tall dark haired girl groaned.

Our escort suddenly looked a lot less upbeat. "This is your mentor, Ebony Hold," she introduced.

As soon as she said the name I recognized her. "You won the first year I was in the reaping," I exclaimed.

"Cool, so that makes you…" she thought about it for a moment while propping her feet up on the table, which caused Lilac to grimace terribly, "sixteen. And that's how old I was when I won."

Before anyone could respond, Ebony just continued to talk.

"And speaking of winning, you two probably want some advice. Now, first things first, enjoy the capitol food while you can, 'cause seriously in a week one of you will be dead, and you wanna think that you lived life to the fullest. Now for the actual games: Make alliances. When you meet up with the careers you do not want to be alone. Now since the capitol is full of cheap assholes-"

"I don't like that language," Lilac snapped.

Ebony looked completely unabashed. "You're proud to live in a place that kills twenty three kids each year and you're worried about my language? That's complete bullshit. Now where was I? Oh yeah, since the capitol is full of cheap assholes, I don't have tapes of all of the reapings, but I do have pictures of all the tributes. I don't think it's a good idea to pick your allies based on looks, but this'll give you an idea of your competition."

Ebony laid the pictures out across the table. The photos had the tributes' name and age underneath their picture. The first thing I noticed was that both of the kids from twelve we're both twelve, Rueben's age. Next, I checked out the careers. All of the boys looked tall and strong like always. The girl from one was drop dead gorgeous, the girl from two looked fierce, and the girl from four didn't look like a career at all. She was a tiny fourteen-year-old with bright red hair in pigtails. I seriously doubted that she volunteered. Other than that nothing was really shocking until we saw the girl from district ten. She was so ugly words could not even explain it. We all started screaming, Basil even fell out of his chair. Ebony set her glass over that girl's face. "That's better," she sighed.

Then after hours of discussing strengths and tactics we arrived in the capitol.


	9. Stylists part 1

Stylists (Scoria's PoV)

I was about ready to rip the limbs off of my prep team. In a week, I'm gonna be in an arena killing other kids, but all of this makeup and "beautifying" was seriously going to kill me. I was dreading what sort of crazy costume my stylist would try to force me in for the parade.

The man who I presumed to be my stylist walked in and before completely examining me, he said, "Ah, you must be Scoria. I'm your head stylist, Giovanni."

All I could do was stare at him in disbelief.

"What?" He asked simply.

"It's just that you look like an actual person," I stammered. It was true, his hair was grey, his skin was semi tan, his clothes were much nicer than what we have in the districts, but they weren't outrageously bright.

He chuckled, "Yes some people here can be pretty weird, but we're here to talk about you. Now I don't want you to wear something you don't like."

"You don't?" I asked.

"Of coarse not," he replied. "I want people to see you for who you are. And I can tell by first impression that even with your blonde hair and blue eyes, you're not the girl who enjoys frilly pink dresses."

"Oh God, no," I moaned in disgust.

"Exactly," he said. "Now I'll have to work with Shale's stylist on coordinating the outfits, but I was thinking about a warrior princess theme for you. Show Panem that you're not a girl to mess with."

Stylists (Zilla's PoV)

I barely knew my stylist, Sibble, for two minutes, and she was already running her blue skinned fingers through my hair.

"I love your hair," she gushed. "Is it natural?"

"Well, we don't really have much dye back in the districts,'' I replied shyly.

"Oh yeah what was I thinking," she laughed. "I dyed mine and it's still not even that bright. That's a good thing for you though," she added. "Capitol people love bright hair."

_If they love bright hair so much, then why are most of the avoxes ginger_, I thought to myself.

"Now," Sibble began. "There's really no point in trying to make you look intimidating, none at all. So how about for your chariot costume I put you in a cute sailors dress."

"Well you know best," I agreed.

"And with hair like yours, you'll definitely stand out," she teased playfully.

I smiled sheepishly.

"You know, you're not like most people from your district," she commented.

"Yeah, I know," I responded quietly.

"I like it. You're sweet and down to earth."

"Well your not as mean as most capitol people," I told her.

She smiled, "it's great to be different."


	10. Stylists part 2

Stylists (Flux's PoV)

_If the capitol people look so freaky, then why are in charge of our outfits,_ I wondered as my stylist Maybellina entered. She had really long curly purple hair and she was just finishing a conversation with a member of the prep team. "…No the scissors are in the third drawer and the needles are in the-"

Exactly where the needles were, I'd never find out because she stopped mid sentence as soon as she saw me. She paused and examined me for a moment then proclaimed, "You're not going to be wearing a shirt."

"Huh," I asked.

"As your stylist, it's my job to help you look good and make an impression so people will sponsor you and want you to win," Maybellina explained.

"And that requires no shirt," I said confused.

She rolled her eyes and replied, "If I can work the sexy appeal just right, all the capitol girls will be saving their pennies just to send you stuff."

"Cool," I said impressed. I did have one question though. "Wait, doesn't our chariot costume have to coordinate with our district. How are you going to incorporate fishing with me shirtless?"

"I think I have an idea."

Stylists (Chrissy's PoV)

I had been really curious about meeting the new stylists since the ones from last year just got bumped up to a "better" district. Earlier today, we both met Basil's stylist, Garner, who, much to Basil's unhappiness, decided, "you're gonna be a tree!"

Now I was waiting in the styling lab waiting to meet my stylist. I heard the click of an open door, and there she was.

"Hi, I'm Flora, your head stylist," she smiled, her pearly white teeth as bright as her fluorescent pink hair. "And you must be Chrysanthemum."

"You can call me Chrissy," I told her.

"Alright then Chrissy, and let me tell you. You are one beautiful girl," she crooned.

"Thanks," I replied.

"It won't be hard to make something you'll look good in," she added. "Speaking of that, I wanna show you the sketch of the idea I had."

After learning what Basil was going to have to wear, I was a little nervous about this, but I was in for a pleasant surprise.

"I thought since your district is agriculture and plants, I should incorporate the prettiest plants: flowers," she explained.

The picture showed a white full-length white strapless dress and the skirt part was entirely covered with flower petals.

"It's gorgeous," I said in amazement.

She clapped cheerfully. "I'm so glad you like it. I'm going to work on the finishing touches and then you'll be ready for the parade."


	11. Chariot Parade

The Chariot Parade (Ashby's PoV)

Sage and I waited nervously backstage of the capitol arena.

"You look great," my stylist, Sephana, assured us. For me, she wanted to do something a little different for the outfit, and since they found out that fire didn't work so well nearly twenty years ago, she went with diamonds. I didn't bother to tell her that diamonds aren't really made in district 12, in fear of what she might put me in for "plan B".

I had a short black dress with a diamond belt, necklace, earrings, bracelets, and crown. Jewels were of coarse too girly for Sage, so he was wearing coal powder. His stylist, Axel, thought it would be inappropriate to have a twelve-year-old boy completely naked on national TV, so he was at least wearing black pants.

"Good luck," Axel and Sephana gave us a thumbs up before exiting to the other side. It was only moments before the parade began. I was really glad I was going last and not first.

The pair from one did seem really confident though. The boy had a flashy gold tux, but the girl stood out much more. She wore a big gold Cinderella ball gown with red taffeta fabric underneath and her chocolate colored hair was in large perfect curls. They received a lot of cheers from the audience.

District two was next. They were both in armor. The girl looked fierce and intimidating. The boy kept trying to hold her hand, but she kept smacking it.

Then came three. The nerdy boy was wearing a light up tuxedo. I did like the girls' dress though. The top part was grey and the bubble skirt part was bright yellow, so it looked like a light bulb. She also had a headband that lit up. She looked very nervous, but she did her best to smile and wave.

After that was four. The small girl wore a dark blue sailors dress with a white hat. Her long red hair was put into two fishtail braids. The boy had on navy swim trunks and a fishnet for a cape. The teenage capitol girls were going crazy.

The tributes from five wore simple black clothing and nuclear atom design headdresses.

Six was shocking. Both tributes were wearing powder. Just powder. Exactly what that had to do with transportation, I have no idea. There's a very likely chance that I'm gonna die soon and I would've lived a much happier life had I not seen that.

I quickly darted my eyes over to chariot seven. The girl was wearing a long, sleeveless white dress made entirely out of many layers of tissue paper. The boy had a red flannel shirt and cutoff jean shorts, like a lumberjack. He was in some weird position with his left elbow on his left knee.

Next was district eight. The boy had a white tux with a cape of many fabrics. The girl had a big dress with many layers of different colors and designs. She kept trying to steel the boy's cape and cover her arms with it.

The petite pair from nine had on corncob costumes.

When ten came out the audience went in to mass panic. The girl was so ugly and creepy. I guess the rumors were true that her stylist died after one look at her naked. I did feel bad for the boy tribute though. People might not want to sponsor him because he came from the same place as that.

Right before us was eleven. The girl was very charismatic with the crowd. She was very pretty too. She had silky blonde hair and a white dress with a skirt part covered in flower petals. The boy looked embarrassed. He was dressed as a tree.

Then we were wheeled out and the audience began to murmur, but I'd heard it all before. _Isn't it weird that two twelve year olds got reaped from the poorest district? _I ignored it though. We were here to gain sponsors. I waved and blew kisses while Sage _attempted_ to look sexy.

"Welcome tributes of the 93rd annual hunger games," President Pate announced, his voice booming into the microphone. He gave his usual speech about how the capitol's great and how it's an honor to represent your district, but I wasn't really listening, for two reasons. 1: All of the people and cameras staring at me became very overwhelming, and 2: It was boring. I pretty much just spaced off until the last sentence.

"Happy Hunger Games. And may the odds be ever in your favor."


	12. Training Part 1

Training (Chrissy's PoV)

"Up, up, up," Lilac trilled. "It's six A.M., rise and shine!"

_Six in the morning? Why the hell would I ever get up at six in the morning? _ And if my escort thought that just telling me to get up was going to get me out of bed, then she was sadly mistaken.

"Come on," she urged. "Today's a big day and you need to start your training." She tried shaking me, but I didn't like that, so I began to kick around, one time I even hit her face.

"Chrysanthemum Xenobeth wake up this instant," she demanded angrily.

"I'm tired," I moaned.

"That doesn't matter, your training begins today," she continued. When I didn't budge, she proceeded to taking the covers off. I really hated that feeling, but I wasn't about to give in.

"You need to wake up now," she screamed.

This on going battle lasted a good forty-five minutes.

"Ebony was hard to wake up, but nothing like this," Lilac muttered. She paused for a moment before calling for my mentor.

I heard Ebony's footsteps as she walked in. "What?" she asked.

"Can you help me get her up, she'll be penalized if she's late for training," Lilac pleaded.

"Fine," Ebony agreed. I felt her physically take me out of bed and stand me up. She grabbed the outfit that was sitting on my chair and handed it to me. "This is your training outfit, put it on and run downstairs. Training starts at seven. If you hurry, you'll be able to catch up with Basil. He just left."

I quickly got dressed in an attempt to be able to meet up with Basil. I had a question I'd been meaning to ask him.

"Hey Basil wait up!"

"Huh," he turned to me.

"Do you wanna be star crossed lovers," I asked.

"No," he replied. It took me a while to comprehend what he just said.

"What do you mean no!?" I exclaimed.

"I mean no I don't wanna be star crossed lovers," he said as if it were a simple answer.

"Why not," I shrieked.

"Two reasons," he began. "I have a girlfriend back home and do you even know what happened in the 74th Hunger Games."

"Yes I do," I responded. "Katniss and Peeta _both _won-"

"And then they were _both_ executed," he cut me off.

I folded my arms. _Screw him,_ I thought. If he's not gonna be my star-crossed lover, then fine. I'll find someone else. I could not go this long without a boyfriend.

He rolled his eyes at me. "Come on, let's get to the training area so we can think of strategies that could _actually _help us win." He opened the door.

"Finally, we have everyone here, let's get started," the head trainer Valentina began.

I looked around. Most of the tributes looked groggy, irritable or both. The pair from one seemed alert and ready. What surprised me was that the two from four looked energetic. The girl looked extremely nervous, but still energetic.

Valentina explained that we didn't only need to learn how to use weapons, but we also needed to learn survival skills. "Dehydration and starvation can kill you just as easily as a knife." She informed us then added "And weather will play a key role in whether you survive since this year's arena has a climate that changes everyday."

Then she went over the rules, which included no hurting other tributes before the games begin. The girl form two looked extremely unhappy about that.

After her little speech, we we're free to head to whichever stations we wanted. I didn't really care about stations though, I was more interested in a love life, but finding one was turning out to be much harder than I thought. I spent the entire first half of training pleading to most of the cute boys, but they all turned me down. And ALL of their answers had something to do with the 74th hunger games.

Come lunch, Basil had already found a group of boys to ally with, so I was forced to eat alone, which was miserable (even though capitol food is delicious). When that was over, I went in front of the empty fire making station to ask the pretty cute blond boy from eight.

"No," he said looking at me like I was crazy. "It's like she's never heard of the 74th," he muttered while leaving.

"What are you doing," inquired a voice from behind me.

I jumped and turned around. I could've sworn there was no one there two seconds ago, but right in front of me was the small ginger girl from district four. With hair as vivid as hers, I'm really surprised I didn't spot her earlier.

"I just wanna find a star crossed lover okay," I responded.

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea," she told me, "Do you know what happened in the 74th hunger games."

"Why does everyone keep bringing that up," I complained.

"Because it's a valid point," she said matter-of-factly. It didn't come off as mean though. It sort of sounded like how friends tease each other.

I sighed, "not only do I not have a star crossed lover, I don't even have an ally."

"Neither do I, why don't we join forces," she offered.

I smiled, "sure I'd like that."

I crouched down with her at the fire making station, which I was terrible at, but Zilla, which I learned her name was, was able to start one right of the bat.

Since the careers had occupied almost all of the weapon stations, we decided to check out some of the other ones like camouflage, knot tying, climbing, and edible plants. That was my best one.

By the end of the day, I figured I had made a pretty decent alliance. Zilla would be able to keep us warm and I'd be able to keep us fed. I wasn't so sure how well we'd be able to fight other tributes, but I'd worry about that later.


	13. Training Part 2

(Zilla's PoV)

I woke up early the next morning feeling plenty energized. Then again, I always do. Flux is usually tired at first, but he wakes up pretty quickly once he gets some food in him. Right now he was on his third bowl of cereal.

"Alright lets talk allies," Schuyler began. "You two seem naive enough to want them."

"Naive or not, it just means people actually like us," Flux argued.

Schuyler wasn't exactly thrilled about having to help us, but he had to because even more than us, he hates his job. "Anyway, who are they and what are they good at?'' he asked.

"I'm with Chrissy," I replied. "She's from eleven. She knows edible plants good and basic healing."

"A bunch of guys and I teamed up," Flux answered after me, then added, "Denim's good with ropes, Cadwell can use a slingshot, and Basil knows how to find food." If I remembered the names correctly, it sounded like he teamed up with the boys from 8, 10 and 11.

"So neither of your groups have anyone that can actually fight," Schuyler observed in a smug tone.

"That's my job," Flux retorted.

"Well if you're the best they've got then you're gonna need a lot of help," Schuyler shot back.

Flux crossed his arms. Unsure of what to say next, he resorted back to eating.

Schuyler smiled victoriously. "You'll both need to learn how to use weapons," he told us.

I guess it was sort of a valid point, even though I still didn't see how learning to use a weapon was going to solve my inability to hurt anything, but I decided to try his advice anyway.

Luckily, Chrissy got to training much earlier than yesterday.

"My mentor said it was good that I have an ally now," she explained. "Ebony'll help us get sponsors. What about your mentor?" she asked.

"Well Flux and I convinced, well more like conned," I corrected myself, "our mentor into helping us. He said we should learn how to use weapons. He's been giving us advice despite his hatred for both me and Flux."

Flux. Just thinking about him sent me in a whirl. I looked over at his group and found myself gazing at him. He was having an animated conversation using wild hand gestures as I wondered what on earth he could be talking about, but I was quickly snapped back to reality by Chrissy's giggles.

"Ooh, you like him. You're star crossed lovers."

I rolled my eyes and scoffed. "Okay, so I sort of has a crush on him, but I wouldn't go as far as star crossed lovers. And anyways he's like three years older than me," I added hoping my blush wasn't too noticeable.

"Yeah and you look a good six years younger," Chrissy teased referring to my height.

It didn't matter how much older he was than me; it still was painful to have him in the games. I quickly changed the subject to keep myself from hurting.

"So where should we go first?"

(Chrissy's PoV)

Zilla's mentor was right, I definitely needed to work on my weapon skills, 'cause I'm terrible. I could barely lift the club, the trident didn't even make it five feet, and my aim with the throwing knives was so bad, I nearly hit the girl from one's foot. She glared at me, and then viciously threw a spear into the training dummy's heart. I could tell she really wanted to do that to me.

"Great," I muttered. "She's already made me her target."

"She's a career," Zilla explained. "Everyone's her target. The girl from two keeps watching me and I didn't even do anything."

After lunch, we decided to try archery. I completely sucked (missed the target by at least 10 feet), but Zilla did all right. She missed the center, but her arrow did hit the third ring.

"Good job," I told her. "You might actually be able to kill someone."

She immediately dropped her bow, looking terrified. "No, no, no," she said breathlessly.

"What's wrong," I asked.

"I can't kill anyone, I just can't," she replied panicky.

"Why not," I wondered out loud.

"It's just so permanent," she fearfully. "No matter what I could never take it back. That's why I'm terrified of killing."

She slumped down to the floor, and let out a loud sigh, "there's no way I can win."


	14. Private Sessions

Private Sessions (Scoria's PoV)

"What are you gonna do?" Shale asked nervously.

"I'm not telling you," I said harshly. I was still extremely mad at him for volunteering.

My best skills were with guns, but of coarse, the game-makers couldn't know I had one, so I decided to go with throwing knives. I could get some pretty good distance with them.

"Zimmerman, Scoria," the monitor called and the doors swung open.

"Good luck," Shale offered.

"Don't need it," I replied coolly.

I walked in, though no one was really looking at me.

"You may begin," the head game-maker, Kenton Edenclaw told me looking thoroughly bored.

As I grabbed the set of small sharp knives, the game-makers kept muttering the same things.

"Oh Jewell was wonderful."

"Did you see her with that bow-"

"-and her strength."

"Why bother watching anyone else when we already know who our victor's gonna be."

Ignoring their comments, I fiercely threw five daggers into the training dummy in five different places that were sure to kill a person: Head, eye, heart, lung, and throat. I looked up to see what they thought, but none of them were even looking at me.

_How could they have already lost interest_, I thought angrily. _I was only the third person they had seen, _but they were still going on about how great that bitch from district one was. I _know_ I can do better than her.

"Pay attention!" I screamed, rage building up inside of me. I grabbed my last knife and threw it into a game-makers heart, causing him to die instantly. They were finally watching, more like staring at me in shock. I didn't need to be told; I knew my private session was over.

"Oh my, oh my goodness, you killed a game-maker," Sapphire nearly hyperventilated back at the room.

"Yeah, knifed him right in the heart," I explained.

"That explains why they almost had a heart attack when I picked up a dagger," Shale said trying to ease the tension. Sapphire still wouldn't calm down though.

"Granite! Granite," she called for our mentor. "Scoria killed a game-maker."

"What!?" he exclaimed, "but he's a capitol citizen."

"So," I groaned. This is why I hate my mentor. He's exactly the type of capitol pet everyone expects people from district two to be like. Plus I don't see him as an authority figure since he's only 3 years older than me. "Oh god, how is this gonna make me look?" he complained. "I can only imagine what kind of a score they'll give you."

"Well quit imagining and come and watch," Giovanni snapped. He also didn't like Granite, even when he was a tribute. Just another contributing factor as to why my stylist was my favorite person on the team.

We all huddled around the flat screen TV to listen to Caesar Flickerman.

"And first up, Jewell Hanglow scoring an impressive 12," he announced. "Haven't seen one of those since," then he quieted down suddenly. It was common knowledge that you never talk about Katniss and Peeta.

"Anyway, moving on," he continued. "Worth Richmond scores a 10, though that's not surprising for a boy with his strength. Next from district 2, Scoria Zimmerman scores…an 11."

"Yes!" I shouted.

"They must've thought you had good aim," Giovanni chuckled.

With a score like that I was finally going to be taken as a serious contender in the games. The looks of pure shock and outrage on Sapphire and Granite's faces were just an added bonus.

"And Shale Quinroy scores a 7," we heard from the TV.

"I scored higher than you," I rubbed in.

"Only by four points," Shale retorted while rolling his eyes.

We shot comments back and forth and it made me realize how much I missed the playful arguments that we had back home.

"Guys focus, you're missing your competitors scores," Granite pointed out, extremely annoyed with us.

"It's okay, I wrote them down," Shale's stylist said while handing us a sheet of paper.

1. Jewell Hanglow: 12

1. Worth Richmond: 10

2. Scoria Zimmerman: 11

2. Shale Quinroy: 7

3. Navitia Hubbard: 5

3. Gaylord Hutch: 4

4. Zilla McCarthi: 5

4. Flux Maxwell: 9

5. Zofia Firth: 7

5. Wytuss Yule: 6

6. Lucinda Vanderbush: 9

6. Daxon Kitt: 8

7. Willow Thorne: 10

7. Cutter Dlash: 9

8. Modesty Mellancoy: 2

8. Denim Esterlee: 5

9. Maizey Rayrinte: 1

9. Archer Danbone: 3

10. G-g-g: 0

10. Cadwell Oberdot: 6

11. Chrysanthemum Xenobeth: 5

11. Basil Mahoganey: 5

12. Ashby Durwood: 7

12. Sage Ation: 7

"Well it looks like your biggest competition is the other volunteers and the two from 7," Granite observed from peering over my shoulder. "But you should also know you have your biggest day of training tomorrow," he continued, "interviews."


	15. Interview Training

Interview Training: (Chrissy's PoV)

For interview training today, Basil and I had to split up our day to work one on one with our mentor and escort. So lucky me got to spend my morning with Lilac.

"All right, let's start with shoes," she began. "Those usually seem to be the biggest problem," she muttered while handing me a pair of white heels.

I stared at them in awe. My dad was super against me growing up, so I had never been able to even touch high heels, let alone wear them. I eagerly placed them on my feet. I was a little wobbly at first, but I was able to catch on pretty quick.

"Now remember to smile all the time. Let the capitol know how great they are," she told me.

I grimaced slightly, but tried to hide it. Pretending to love the capitol was just part of the games.

Since I was really good at the presentation part, our session ended early, but unfortunately for me that meant I had to listen to Lilac try out her "teen slang". I swear I'm going to go insane if I hear the word "coolio" or "home sister" one more time.

I was so relieved when I got to work with Ebony, and she sensed that when I walked in.

"Lilac driving you crazy," she observed.

"You have no idea," I responded.

"Sure I do," she replied. "I had to deal with all of this four years ago, but anyways, let's talk about your interview. In order to gain sponsors, you have to get people to want you to win, and right after the interviews are when people usually pick their favorites, so let's make you one of them."

We talked about strategies for hours and eventually decided that Reuben might be able to help me win.

"Now you're naturally likeable," Ebony started. "You're pretty, you're charming, but you need to pull on people's heartstrings. Make them feel sympathy for your brother. Tell them you want to win, so you can come home to him."

"Well that's the truth, so that should be easy," I explained.

Ebony smiled, "I think you're ready."

(Zilla's PoV)

"All right," Schuyler began, "this point in the competition is when the tributes usually wanna start training separately."

"Nah," Flux and I said in unison. We didn't like to train alone, plus we knew we could annoy our mentor much easier together.

"Okay fine," Schuyler sighed disappointed. He wasn't the only one who ended up getting disappointed though. It was a little upsetting to know that since I was going for a "cute" angle, I wouldn't get to wear heels. I had to stay short.

"I don't know what's wrong, almost all twelve year old girls go for that angle," Aqualina explained.

"She's fourteen," Flux corrected her.

"Well she _looks_ twelve," Aqualina retorted.

It wasn't necessarily pleasant having our escort around, but I did like that our entire team was helping with our interview training: Sibble, Maybellina, our prep teams, and Schuyler- well, maybe having him here wasn't too great either.

"So in order to win, you have to get people to like you," he told us.

"_You_ won," I replied in a snarky tone.

"Yeah, but I can actually fight," he said angrily. After a pause he said, "Just pretend that you're grateful to be here."

Flux stood up. "Oh yeah, cuz I'm so grateful to be in a place where I will very likely die a horrible, painful death," he said with much drama, sarcasm, and hand gestures.

"Not like that," Schuyler said annoyed.

"The kid's funny. Let him use that to his advantage," Sibble offered.

"All he has to do is make sure the capitol girls know that they can't have him unless he comes back," Maybellina explained.

Schuyler turned to me. "And you. Make the capitol people not want to kill off a _sweet, innocent_ little girl. So act like a _sweet, innocent _little girl."

His next comment was aimed at both of us. "And don't be annoying at all!"

I've heard that the dinners before the games were usually quiet and awkward, but ours' was completely hectic, partly because of this new drink that Flux and I got to try. Sibble decided, much to Schuyler's dismay, that since it was the last dinner before the games, we should get to try coffee. I had never had that back home, really only the rich families drank it, but when I did try it, I loved it. It tasted amazing and it had this chemical called caffeine in it. I wasn't really sure what it was, but it made our talking a lot faster and louder. Of coarse it did make us more jittery and spastic (me even more than usual.) Flux even ended up spilling some of his drink on him.

"See this is why we have them eat before they get into their interview outfits," Maybellina joked.

We were all laughing (except for Aqualina of coarse. She was too no nonsense for that), but even Flux, who the joke was aimed at, and Schuyler who's always mad, were joining in. This was the first time since I've got here that he looked genuinely happy.

"Speaking of outfits," Sibble pointed out. "They should probably get dressed. Interviews start in an hour."


	16. Interviews part 1

**Author's note: Sorry about the long wait. I've been super busy with Show Choir competitions. The interview chapter is kind of long, so I decided to post it in three parts. And I know that Shale's strategy is exactly like Peeta's, but I wanted to emphasize that the star-crossed lover strategy is now overused, but don't worry my story won't turn out like the 74th Hunger Games. Enjoy!**

Interviews: (Scoria's PoV)

We all stood in a line backstage as the show began to start. Caesar walked onstage in a flamboyant, blue, sparkly suit to match his hair.

"Hello everybody! Are you ready for tonight," he greeted enthusiastically into the microphone.

The audience screamed their happy response.

"Fantastic," he replied. "Now this year we've got a great bunch of kids for you, and I know you can't wait to meet 'em, so let's get this started. Give it up for Jewell Hanglow."

The audience cheered like crazy as she strutted onstage like she owned the place. Her over-the-top purple, ruffled, Cinderella gown with a gold necklace and boa just added to my hatred of her.

"So Jewell how are you doing?" Caesar asked.

"Great, I'm in the capitol, aren't I," she answered in such a kissup-y way.

"Yeah, the capitol is pretty good," Caesar turned to the audience, "Am I right, or am I right?"

They made it very clear that they thought he was correct.

"Now let's talk about that twelve," he began.

"Well, I just showed them a little bit of everything since I can do it all. Why hold anything back," she responded. It was hard to believe a person could be _this_ full of herself (and yet they were still liking her).

"So you think you have a chance of winning?" he inquired.

"Oh definitely. I know I can win. I can fight, I can find food, though a couple of sponsors wouldn't hurt," she added with a wink, causing the audience to laugh.

"Glad to hear you have confidence and I can tell that you'll be a big contender in these games. Let's give her another hand folks," he finished as Jewell was applauded once more.

"All right, next up we have Worth Richmond." Caesar announced.

Worth walked onstage confidently, but not nearly as stuck up. He wore black pants and dress jacket with a white-collar shirt and a thin black tie.

I'm not real big on guy-talk, but I have to admit: he is one of the better-looking guys in the games.

"So Worth, I know this is on everyone's minds," Caesar prompted, "is there a special girl back at home?"

"Not yet," he replied simply, "but I can have anyone I want when I go back."

"And it shouldn't be too hard for you to go back, I mean after all, you scored an impressive ten," Caesar noted.

"Yep, I just showed them my skills with a spear. That's my weapon. If there's one in the cornucopia, it's mine. If anyone tries to take it from me…get your canon ready," he said as if he was joking, but I could tell he was dead serious.

"You heard him," Caesar called to the game-makers, after chuckling for a few seconds he heard the buzzer go off. "Well good luck tomorrow," he told him. "Worth Richmond everybody."

"You're next," a peacekeeper told me, ushering me to the stage.

"Give it up for Scoria Zimmerman," Caesar called. I walked on, not nervous at all. I saw the faces of the thousands of capitol people looking back at me, and remembered how much I hated them, and that I really didn't care what they thought.

"So Scoria, you come from district two, one that's known to do very well in these games. I guess that explains your eleven," he guessed, incorrectly though.

"My district has nothing to do with it. I got that score because of what I did," I said trying to hide my bitter detestation if my "home".

"Good point," he said, "and that eleven puts you in second place. That's really good."

"Yeah," I responded, "but remember you don't wanna show the game-makers everything. Some people like to keep their secret weapons, well secret," I said glaring at Jewell offstage. I was nothing like her. Even our dresses were completely different. I had a red one-sleeve dress with a black belt and knee high, heeled boots. I sure as hell wasn't gonna be some princess tribute.

"Now what are some of those secret weapons?" Caesar asked.

"Save it for the games," I smiled deviously.

"And finally, when you volunteered," he began, "you obviously thought you could win, but there's gotta be another reason as to why."

"Well," I breathed. I wanted to defy the capitol after winning, but I was smart enough to know not to say that during an interview. I did have another reason though, one that might be able to pull me in some sponsors.

"I'm compared to my classmates and older sister everyday. I need a place where I can stand out. This is my place," I explained.

"Well best of luck to you," Caesar told me, "next from district 2 is Shale Quinroy."

As he entered I wondered whether he was nervous or fearless about the interview.

"So Shale, what do you like best about the capitol?" Caesar questioned.

"Hmmm…I think the interview host is pretty good," Shale answered, obviously kidding, but Caesar played with it anyways.

"Oh yeah I love him too," he replied, "What about the other capitol citizens?"

"Well my prep team's amazing," Shale responded.

"They are doing a great job on you, doesn't he look fantastic," Caesar said gesturing to Shale's black suit with a red tie. "You must have a girlfriend back home," he added.

"Well," Shale said hesitantly.

"Well, what?" Caesar asked. "We're all dying to know."

"There is one girl I've known all my life, but I think I missed my chance to tell her how I feel," Shale explained sadly.

"Well she'll be the one wanting you when you come back," Caesar tried to cheer him up.

"No, that can't work," Shale sighed.

"And why is that?" Caesar inquired.

Shale's overused final comment filled me up with a burning rage.

"Because she came here with me."

(Zilla's PoV)

What the hell was that boy thinking? Many people have tried the star-crossed lover strategy, but no one's ever won with it since the 74th. Leave it to him to pull a Peeta. The fierce girl who had been watching me all week was whacking him several times when he got offstage. I could tell she did not want to be Katniss Everdeen. Nobody wanted to be Katniss Everdeen.

Caesar swiftly ended the interview and introduced the girl form three, Navitia Hubbard.

I had to say, her stylist did a great job. She was barely recognizable without her glasses and simple clothes. She was now in a light blue, v-neck gown with an empire waist. They were able to turn that shy nerdy girl into a beautiful young woman.

Caesar began the interview by asking her about the capitol, which she replied about how great the technology was.

When he asked about her family, she spoke a little bit about her parents, but the conversation quickly turned to her cat.

"I just miss Jeremiah so much," she said fighting back tears. "I want to win for my wonderful pet."

"Well everyone loves an animal lover," Caesar told the crowd. That was one good thing about him, no matter what a tribute said he could always try to portray them in a good light.

"Well, Navitia, I wish you luck for your cat," he finished. "And next is Gaylord Hutch."

There were numerous snickers from the crowd, and as nervous as I was, I had to admit I was amongst them, but it wasn't because of his name. His outfit was ridiculous. It was an obnoxious baby blue tux complete with a top hat and cane.

"How ya doin' Caesar," Gaylord greeted.

"Good…that's quite an outfit you've got there," Caesar observed. You know you're outfit's over-the-top when it shocks a capitol person.

"Well a man's gotta stand out," Gaylord replied.

"Right you are," Caesar agreed, "and what do you think makes you stand out in this competition?"

"Well besides my undeniable good looks and charm," Gaylord pretended to think, "I'm super smart."

Just about every other thing that came out of that boy's mouth had to deal with how "good" he looked, but he still didn't come off anywhere near as conceited as Jewell.

As Caesar wished him luck, my heart skipped a beat. I was next.


	17. Interviews part 2

**Okay, so here's part 2 of the interviews. It includes districts 4, 5, 6, and the girl from 7. Hope you enjoy it.**

****(Zilla's PoV)

"And now from district four, little miss Zilla McCarthi," he announced.

As soon as I entered I felt attacked by the lights. They we're so bright. I squinted and made an attempt to smile.

"Look at the hair on this one," he commented. "How many of you have tried and failed miserably to get that color, which she has naturally?" he asked the crowd.

Several people in the audience replied things like "Me" or "I know I did."

I smiled nervously, I was not used to all of this positive attention. Where I come from, red hair is definitely not considered a good thing.

"Now tell me Zilla," Caesar asked, "How do you think I would look with red hair?"

"I think you better stick with blue," I giggled shyly.

"You're right. I do look good in it," he agreed causing the audience to roar with laughter.

"Now, you're a small girl," he pointed out, "Could one of your advantages be hiding?"

"Maybe," I replied, hoping my voice wasn't rising to a panic. Hiding was one of my only strategies, and now all the other tributes know it.

"Well either way, we can see you now, and you look adorable, as you have all week," he continued with the interview.

I slightly swished the skirt part of my dress. It was a frilly, sparkly, short pink halter-top dress, and my curly, somehow great, hair had been pulled into a bow.

"What do you think of your stylist?" he asked.

"Oh she's awesome! She's like an older sister to me," I responded happily.

"And speaking of older sisters, I believe you are one, correct?" he prompted.

"Yeah, I have two little sisters, Pomelina and Farrell. I miss them so much and I hope they're okay."

"Oh how touching," Caesar smiled genuinely, "Lots of luck to you little red. Now for Flux Maxwell."

Flux entered looking a lot more comfortable than me in his black dress pants and his unbuttoned collar shirt. Maybellina was really trying to play that sexy angle.

They talked a lot about his 9 in training. Caesar asked about what he thought of his team. Flux went a little stiff when talking about our mentor, but I could tell that he was trying to pretend that the two of them could at least tolerate each other.

"Yeah, he gives me advice," Flux said hiding a grimace; I could tell he was thinking _Yeah he also flipped me onto a table and my head still hurts._

Caesar must've thought it was star-crossed lover safe since I'm three years younger than him, because he asked, "So Flux do you have a girlfriend?"

"No not yet," Flux answered, "but if I win, I'm available," he added smiling.

A bunch of teenage capitol girls started screaming, "He has to win!"

"Well it looks like you've got some fans," Caesar observed, "that should help. Flux Maxwell, let's give him a hand."

The audience cheered loudly.

"All right, now from district 5, please welcome Zofia Firth."

She was a beautiful girl with long dark hair. I think she was about a year older than me, but her black gown with thick spaghetti straps made her look even more mature.

Before Caesar could ask anything, she cut right to the chase.

"I'd like to say a few words," she spoke. "I'm not going to kill anyone because it's against my morals," she continued to rant about how much she despised the games.

"So you don't think you can win?' Caesar prompted.

"I never said that," she corrected him. "I could outlast these people. You see I have intelligence. More intelligence than the rest of the tributes combined."

I don't think she was being full of herself. Frankly, at this point, I think she was just being honest.

I'm sure she made an impression. I don't think that will help her get sponsors, but she had guts, and I admired that.

Next was the boy from her district, Wytuss Yule. He was a boy just barely less than six feet tall in an all black suit.

Him and Caesar talked mostly about capitol technology and his best skill, land mines. Electric shocks sound very painful –I made a mental note to myself to stay away from him.

After him was the girl from district 6, Lucinda Vanderbush, though I picked up that she preferred to be called Lucy. She was in what looked like a black bikini with a cape draped over it, but I didn't see the point of the cape since it was practically see through. I could tell that Maybellina wasn't the only stylist going for the sexy angle.

The tall dark girl sat down and proceeded to answering Caesar's questions with confidence and a certain shallow tone in her voice. _Were all volunteers like this,_ I wondered. Several times during her interview she had to "fix her shoes", but it was obvious that was just her excuse to bend over and flash her D-cup tits to all of Panem. Live TV, anything can happen.

Caesar (and probably nearly every boy in Panem) wished Lucy luck, and then he welcomed, Daxon Kitt.

He wasn't wearing a shirt again, but thank God, this time he was in pants. Caesar also took note of this.

"That was quite an interesting…um…outfit you had for the opening ceremonies, but what did it have to do with transportation?" he asked.

"My theme is: Sex will take you places," Daxon replied.

_Oh dear God._

"Okay then," Caesar responded looking a little confused.

As the two talked on, I contemplated his chances of winning. He had a large build and a good training score, but something about him still seemed gullible.

Willow Thorne, the girl from seven, was next. She was in a shimmery strapless gold dress that reached her knees, and her strawberry blonde hair was straightened to make it seem longer. After her interview, I couldn't see why anyone wouldn't want to sponsor her. She was confident without appearing self-absorbed. She explained some of her skills like archery, so people would know what she's good at, but she didn't tell everything, so the other tributes wouldn't know her whole strategy. She had a certain slyness about her, which made her seem really intelligent. On top of all that, she got a 10. It was easy to see that she was going to be a major contender in these games.


	18. Interviews part 3

**Sorry it's been so long since the last update. There's only 1 more chapter after this until the actual games begin, but for now, here's the last part of the interviews. Enjoy!**

* * *

(Chrissy's PoV)

I was beginning to get impatient. That's another bad part of being from a lower district, you always get stuck near the end of things, and the end of the line.

I watched the screen as Cutter Dlash made his way to the stage. I shuddered at his God-awful orange tux with blue trimmings.

Then, he and Caesar started talking about football, of all things. Football! I only knew a little bit about it from an ancient sports class I took in sixth grade, but I knew I couldn't stand it.

Apparently Cutter was obsessed with some player from way back in 2011 named Tim Tebow.

"I'm going to win because Tebow will give me the strength," he told Caesar, and then he got down in some weird kneeling position and started praying.

"Well I hope Tebow gives you the strength," Caesar said.

"Oh he will," Cutter answered automatically. "Tim Tebow has the power because he is our savior."

"No he's not," I could see the girl from five mouth to herself from the other side of the stage. She got really tense and glared at him. I could tell she hated football and Tebow even more than I did.

Next, from eight, was Modesty Mellancoy. She got right into a little speech about how short skirts were ruining our nation. Her long green dress with a satin jacket was well suited for her. I wondered what the pair from six thought of her.

The boy from her district, Denim, didn't talk nearly as much. At first I thought it was because he was shy, but after a few questions it became evident that he was going through a voice change. It cracked a good five times during the three-minute interview. Luckily for him, Caesar was able to play this off as funny and cute. Plus with his long blond hair and white dress pants with red collar shirt, the boy was able to show that he wasn't unfortunate in the looks department. He seemed good natured and likeable. I could see him getting some sponsors.

Then it was district nine's turn. The girl, Maizey, wore a short yellow dress, and her golden hair was crimped. She seemed very stuck up and cocky, despite her one in training.

On the other hand, the boy, Archer, appeared very nervous. It was obvious that he didn't like that his bright yellow tux was really noticeable. He answered everything quickly and quietly.

After them was district ten. As soon as the girl came on, everyone went into mass panic. Her ugliness is a shock every time you see it.

"What is that?!" Caesar exclaimed, horrified.

Guess he can't portray everyone in a good light.

"Turkey! I want Turkey," the thing demanded.

"Make it stop," Caesar pleaded. "Somebody get her off the stage! Oh the humanity! Get her off!"

Ten peacekeepers attempted to, but even they couldn't make her budge. They eventually just held a turkey leg on the other side and waited for her to run off.

Once everyone had calmed down, Caesar introduced Cadwell Oberdot. His outfit was simple dress pants, a nice button down shirt, and a blue tie. He looked really normal, (although it could just be a comparison to how abnormal his tribute partner looked.)

"So Cadwell, what do you like best about the capitol?" Caesar asked.

"No math homework," he replied.

I had to admit, I kind of agreed with that boy. Though fighting to the death would suck, not having to do math was a perk.

"Yeah, I like my whole team….except for my district partner," he answered after Caesar asked about his support team.

"Well, we all know who are district ten favorite is," Caesar told the crowd, who responded by cheering.

"Best of luck to you boy," he wished him, "Now from district eleven, please welcome Chrysanthemum Xenobeth."

I walked onstage and waved to the crowd and the cameras. I knew the drill; I had to pretend that I was grateful to be here. I glanced to the side and saw myself on one of the screens. Flora had done another amazing job with my outfit. My dress was white, flowy and strapless. The top part was sequined and there was a large fabric flower at my waist. As for my hair, the top part was pulled back while the rest hung to my shoulders. And of coarse, I couldn't forget about the glass heels that I was wearing.

"Chrysanthemum," he began.

"You can call me Chrissy," I told him.

"All right then, Chrissy, what do you think of the capitol?" he asked.

_Be optimistic,_ I reminded myself before answering. "Well the food's delicious, and the clothes are so….original, and everything here is just so beautiful." It sounded like I was off to a pretty good start.

"Well enough about my home," Caesar continued. "Let's hear about yours. What is it like in district 11?"

"Well, I have a little brother who I help take care of," I replied. "I miss him so much. Reuben if you're watching this" (like he has a choice I thought to myself) "I just want you to know that I love you and I'm gonna try to win for you."

"Besides your brother, are there any other special boys in your life?" Caesar prompted.

"I wish," I responded automatically. _Okay, so my filter wasn't completely perfect._

Caesar gave a small laugh. "Oh well I'm sure you won't have trouble finding one if you win," he assured me.

A buzzer rang signaling the end of my interview.

"Okay that's all we have time for, I hope to have you back for another interview soon," he finished.

"I'd like that too," I smiled before exiting.

Basil was next. I didn't pay too much attention at the beginning of his interview. I couldn't help it; he looked so good in his suit and bow tie. I only heard the last question.

"So what's the biggest reason you want to win?"

"Well aside from not dying," Basil started off, "I really want to go home to my girlfriend, Rosella.

The crowd smiled and awed.

_What,_ I nearly shrieked. We're supposed to be star-crossed lovers. I did not say he could have a girlfriend. I seriously needed to have a talk with that boy, and that's just what I did as soon as he got offstage.

"What was that about?" I demanded. "I'm your star crossed lover."

"No your not," he spoke slowly.

"But that's how we can make it out together. It worked before," I told him.

"No that's just it. It didn't work. They pissed off the capitol, started a rebellion that failed and then died. The capitol isn't gonna let something like that happen again," he argued.

"But if we work together, we have a better chance of coming out alive," I tried to reason with him.

"You don't get it do you," he exclaimed in exasperation. "You make allies to help you, but in the end there can only be one victor. Now, there is a chance that you could win, but there is absolutely no way that you could win with anybody else."

He paused for a moment. "Sorry to be the one to break it to you."

(Ashby's PoV)

"Just two tributes left," Caesar told the audience. "From district twelve, let's hear it for Ashby Durwood."

I took a deep breath before entering. I just had to ignore all of the people, the lights, the flashing cameras, and think of Adina back at home. I just had to pretend I was talking to her.

"So Ashby, I think you surprised us all with your seven, it's a very impressive score, especially for someone your age," he pointed out.''

_Don't let him talk down to you; _I could practically hear my sister's voice in my head. At this point, I didn't care what my escort said. The innocent twelve-year-old act was so overused. My angle was gonna be straight foreword and sassy.

"What's my age got to do with it?" I questioned. "I may be the youngest and smallest competitor, but that does not mean I'm out of the running," I replied with confidence.

"Of coarse not," Caesar assured. "Now let's talk about your family," he continued.

"Well, I have a twin sister," I responded.

"Are you close?" he asked.

"Very," I answered firmly. "We can practically read each others' mind's."

"Oh you can. So what's she thinking right now," he inquired showing interest.

"I think she wants people to sponsor me," I replied quirkily.

"Well you can't argue with that," he finished. "Let's have another hand for Ashby Durwood."

Just because I was twelve meant nothing. I had a chance of winning and nothing could get in the way of that, not my age or a bad reputation from my district.

Sage had the last interview. He was in black dress pants and a nice jacket with a green collar shirt (in contrast to my blue dress). Our district has been apprehensive about being all matchy-matchy during the interviews since the 74th.

He appeared cocky, but cute. The crowd seemed to be loving him. He talked about how his best strength was speed, but I already knew that, he held all of our school's track records. We we're going to be a good alliance for the games, but I still wasn't looking foreword to them tomorrow.


	19. The Night Before the Games

**Okay, now that show choir season is over I'm hoping for more frequent updates from now on. This is the last night before the games. Enjoy!**

* * *

The Night Before the Games (Scoria's PoV)

I sat in my room sulking. I don't know why, I was supposed to be excited. Tomorrow I was going to get praised for killing people. So why was I so upset?

Oh wait, I do know. Shale told all of Panem that he liked me and made me look like Katniss Everdeen. The capitol probably thinks I'm gonna rebel. Granted, I _do_ want to rebel, but that sort of thing is much harder to do if every thinks you're gonna do it. I'd be the game-makers target from the very beginning.

_But I'm better than them,_ I reminded myself. Capitol people are idiots. But still, seriously Shale?

"She's right in there," Sapphire pointed into my room. A tall, burly peacekeeper approached me.

"Um, Miss Zimmerman, there's been a problem found with your token," he told me.

"Whatever could that be?" I asked innocently.

He reached into his bag and revealed my small handgun.

_Remain calm_, I warned myself. I had to have that in the games.

"You know you're not allowed to bring weapons into the arena," he stated.

"But that's a token of my district," I pretended to be mortified of him accusing me of cheating. "District 2 makes the weapons," I added matter-of-factly.

The peacekeeper thought for a moment. "Oh yeah, you're right, that makes sense. Sorry for the misunderstanding," he apologized and handed me my gun. "Good luck tomorrow."

I laughed as soon as he left the room. I was gonna be just fine.

(Zilla's PoV)

I sat in the kitchen with my leg twitching violently. It was hard to get to sleep and I didn't feel like trying anymore.

Flux came groggily out of his bedroom, and his half open eyes turned to me, "What are you doing here?"

"Why are you questioning me? I was here first. What are _you_ doing here?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I was hoping there'd be leftover food or something." He pulled up a chair across from me. "Nervous?" he wondered out loud.

"Yeah," I replied. "I was just thinking of all the things I'll never get to do. Watch my sisters grow up…kiss a boy…"

Flux looked puzzled. "You've never kissed anyone before?"

"No," I began to blush very noticeably, so I quickly tried to change the subject. "And I'm not gonna get to do that and a lot of other stuff, all because I'm gonna die in a matter of days."

"Who says you can't win," he questioned.

"I can't kill anybody," I answered.

"So, that doesn't mean you can't outlast them," he pointed out, "didn't the arena flood that one time?"

"Well yeah," I responded, "but even if that did happen, you could survive and I couldn't kill you."

"Well I'll let you in on something," he began, "I couldn't kill you either."

"So I guess we'd just sit there," I stated.

"I guess so," he agreed.

We laughed a little bit, and then quieted down real quickly.

As much as we tried to joke around, we both realized that this was a serious event.

Unexpectedly, he leaned over and kissed me. As great as it felt, I had to remind myself that he didn't like me, he just felt sorry for me.

"Just in case," he told me.


	20. Day 1

**So the games have officially begun. Here's day 1. Enjoy!**

* * *

Day 1 (Chrissy's PoV)

I was about to go into fight to the kill today and I didn't even get to sleep in. _Well, if I'm gonna be fighting, I might as well be in a bad mood_, I thought to myself while yawning irritably.

Even though I felt like I was gonna be sick, I ate as much as I could at breakfast, since I had no idea what would be in the arena food-wise.

Ebony finished talking to Basil and pulled me aside.

"You ready?" she asked.

"No," I answered honestly.

"Listen, grab something from the very edge of the cornucopia, and get out of there as fast as you can. Then find your ally. Don't forget, you can win this thing. I've been talking to lots of people and they say they wanna sponsor you. And most importantly, remember your brother," she told me.

Yes, Reuben. He was the reason why I had to win. I couldn't imagine what it would be like for him to have to watch me die on television.

Not much later, I was sent into a hovercraft where a tall lady in a lab coat approached me, "this won't hurt at all," she assured me.

A gigantic needle stabbed my forearm. It took all of my self-determination not to kick her.

"It's just a tracker. Now the game-makers will be able to know where you are at all times," she explained.

_Great, _I thought sarcastically to myself. _If I make it out of here alive, I desperately hope my mom doesn't get her hands on one of these._

When we finally arrived, we were led underground to a small room labeled 11F. I was grateful that I wasn't alone, and that Flora was in here to help me get into my games outfit, even if I didn't need the help.

This year it was a white tank top, black pants and jacket, with combat boots. The only thing that separated mine from all the other girls' was that mine had a large 11 on the back.

Flora pulled my blonde hair back into a high ponytail to keep it out of my face. She locked eyes with me. "Good luck, I know you'll do great," she said sincerely before hugging me.

I stepped on the platform and watched the tube shoot up as I started to rise. I wanted out, but winning was the only way I could do that.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let the 93rd annual hunger games begin!"

Just sixty seconds before the gong would ring. I looked around. All of the tributes stood around the cornucopia waiting to get off their platform. Beside me was Worth, from one, and Wytuss, from five. The arena seemed fine. It wasn't too hot, there was grass and trees, but I knew that wouldn't last very long. The weather in this arena was going to change everyday. The game-makers probably just kept it nice for today because they were afraid a thunderstorm might interfere with the bloodbath.

Five seconds were left….four…three…two…one.

The gong rang loudly. I could see Zilla, from about 10 tributes over, flinch at the sound. We all ran off our platforms, ready to collect supplies, ready to grab weapons, ready to kill when-

"Turkey," a terrible voice called. That thing was emerging towards us.

We all started freaking out.

"They're already sending mutts on us!" Jewell shrieked.

"No, that's just the girl from my district," Cadwell explained, wincing at the sight of his tribute partner.

"That thing has to die," Daxon exclaimed.

"This is gonna sound crazy," Worth began, "but how about we all team up, just for now, we can kill each other tomorrow, but just for today we can team up and kill that."

"Okay," the rest of us agreed. Most of us grabbed our weapon of choice. I took a throwing knife. People who weren't likely to kill, like Zilla, Zofia, and Archer, just stood back and watched. No one was exactly opposed to this.

"One! Two! Three! Fire," Worth shouted.

Weapons of all kinds flew through the air. Maces, spears, darts, arrows, all entered her ugly body. Even with my bad aim, it was hard to miss something that big. Her cannon fired and we all cheered. This must be the first time that nearly all of the tributes were working together for something. I wondered what the game-makers were thinking.

"What now?" Willow asked.

"Uh…" Worth thought. "Let's just grab what we want, and we'll kill each other tomorrow."

It was as good as it was gonna get. The careers got most of the really good weapons and supplies, but I was able to grab a small backpack, a water bottle, and a dagger. Zilla was easy to spot with her vivid red braids. It looked like she got a larger backpack. "Come on," I told her.

We walked for about twenty minutes until we figured we were far enough away from everyone, at least for today. We began to look through our supply bags and I was a growing more and more tired by the minute.

Zilla noticed me yawning. "You all right?" she asked.

"Yeah I'm just tired," I replied, "I didn't get much sleep last night."

"I don't think anybody did, but if you want, you can sleep right now. I'll keep watch," she offered.

"Really?" I said hopefully.

"Yeah I'll be fine," she responded.

I felt a little bad about leaving her with the first watch, but all my guilt vanished as I began to rest.

(Worth's PoV)

By now all of the other tributes aside from my alliance had left. The careers were different this year. Of course, Jewell and I had teamed up, but instead of having the pairs from 2 and 4, we took the pair from 6. They both volunteered and got high scores, Maizey, from 9, had been clinging onto Lucy all week and apparently thought that she could join us. She got on everyone's nerves, and we decided that once we had to turn on each other, we would kill her first.

"So are we gonna start killing or what?" Jewell asked.

"Tomorrow," I answered firmly. Soon I'd be killing everyone, the least I could do was wait like I said I would.

"Well I think we should at least start planning," Lucy said. "Who are we gonna go after first?"

"The girl from 2 who thought she was too good for us," Daxon offered.

"Isn't it obvious," Jewell began, "We kill the weaklings: The ones with no alliances and no way to fight. The show will be much more entertaining if we get rid of them first."

"So who exactly should go first?" I questioned.

"I know," Maizey said satisfactorily. " The boy from my district. He's small, young, and he can't fight."

So she turned out to be of some use after all, but there still was one problem. "How are we gonna find him?"

An idea seemed to strike Jewell. She cleared her throat and projected her voice. "Oh game-makers and capitol citizens watching: I don't know how I can give you wonderful people a good show without anyway to find tributes. If only I had some sort of tracking device, so I could find them. Then I would make sure to give them the most gruesome and entertaining deaths as possible."

Within seconds, a parachute containing a GPS came down. Jewell grabbed it and smiled. I was happy to have a tracking device, but I was a little annoyed that Jewell could get an item that really should be banned so easily.

"So it's settled," I said taking the spear from the top of our weapon pile. My Spear. My best weapon. I clutched it in my fist, knowing Archer Danbone would be dead before tomorrow's nightfall.

(Ashby's PoV)

Sage and I walked until it started to get dark.

"I think we're fine now," he said while looking around. "Let's just take a break and see what we got."

At the cornucopia, I made sure to grab a set of blow darts since they're my best weapon. Dipping one of those in the small vile of nightlock juice I found in my bag, and I could be pretty lethal. Also in that bag, I found two small loaves of bread, dried fruit, and night vision goggles. Sage's bag contained crackers and a canteen full of water. He somehow managed to get his hands on a sleeping bag too. Weapon wise he grabbed a sling-shot and a throwing knife.

"And check this out," he said smiling. From behind his back he took out a silver object with spikes on the end.

"You got a _mace_," I said skeptically. "Do you even know how to use it?"

"Not really," he shrugged, "but better in my hands than the careers'."

"Point taken," I agreed.

We quickly shielded our eyes once the girl from district 10's face appeared in the sky. We listened for the capitol anthem's end to know when it was safe to see again.

"For the first time…ever…only one tribute has died in the…er…bloodbath," Claudius Templesmith sighed from his announcer room.

Sage laughed, "They sound disappointed."

"Yeah it's a shame only one cannon went off," I joked.

"What if we all just didn't kill each other," he asked.

I thought about it for a moment, then panicked because this was definitely not something we should be talking about. I lowered my voice a lot before answering; "I think that's why they're okay with the careers training illegally. To ensure that some people will do anything to win."

"I suppose you're right," he told me.

Quickly changing the subject I grabbed his sleeping bag. "I'll be using this."

"No way," he retorted. "I grabbed at the cornucopia."

"And I'm grabbing it now," I smirked.

He rolled his eyes. "We'll I like the ground better anyway."

I giggled before closing my eyes. I thought a lot about what Sage said. _Not kill each other._ Wouldn't that be considered rebellious? Surely we would be punished. Plus there was no way that couldn't work. Tomorrow everyone would be after each other, especially the careers, and the games would really begin.


	21. Day 2

Day 2 (Jewell's PoV)

The first day of hunting. The weather was much hotter than yesterday, but it was still pretty decent. Nothing would get in my way, I mean our way –wait, no I don't. My way. I was going to be the one who would end up winning.

All five of us had chosen one person who was specifically our kill. Since Archer was from Maizey's district, she picked him. I didn't mind though. I wanted more of a challenge anyway.

Finding him was easy with the help of my newly earned GPS. We found him by a small lake. He seemed to be filling up a container with water.

Maizey grabbed the set of throwing knives from her bag. She aimed, then fired….and then missed. How could she miss? He wasn't even twenty feet away.

"I'll get him this time," she assured.

Her knife ended up even farther away from him.

He began to look around frantically. He could tell we were here, but he couldn't see us from behind the trees.

She threw three more times and none of them even came close.

Daxon, extremely fed up and worried the boy might run off and hide, took the last knife and chucked it straight into his heart. Archer's cannon went off and he was dead. Simple as that.

"Oh yeah!" Maizey cheered as if she actually did something. "We did it! That was so easy." She stepped foreword tor retrieve her knives.

Worth just rolled his eyes.

"OMG! We are doing so good. I bet I can totally win this-" but at that moment she tripped over a twig, hit her head against a rock in the lake and landed in the water face down.

We stared at her not feeling compelled to drag her tiny unconscious body out of the water.

"She's gonna drown," Worth stated.

"Oh well," I shrugged and picked up one her knives. The others picked up the rest and headed back to our base.

None of us felt bad for Maizey or mourned her death. She was no use to us anyway.

(Zilla's PoV)

From not even ten feet away I saw her. The dirty blonde braid, the piercing blue eyes. I knew exactly which tribute it was. Scoria Zimmerman, the girl who had been watching me all week. I was done for.

"Chrissy," I hissed nervously. "Get back, one of the careers is here."

"What," she looked up, alarmed. "Who-" but she was interrupted by Scoria stepping over the plants surrounding us, holding a gun.

I closed my eyes and hoped it would be quick, but instead of a gunshot, I heard her sigh.

She lowered her weapon. "I can't do it."

I stood there speechless.

"You're just too damn innocent," she said in frustration.

"Me?" I asked confused.

"Yes, you!" she exclaimed. "I've been watching you all week and I can't understand it! The way you're so childlike! The way you're afraid to hurt anything. The way you look like you need to apologize to the training dummies if you ever hit them. I just can't kill you." She slumped down looking completely torn and stressed.

Chrissy and I looked at each other, exchanging awkward and confused glances.

"Well," I spoke up, "if you're not going to kill us, why don't you join us," I offered.

She thought about it for a moment, then smirked and said, "Well you guys do look like you could use a fighter. Sure, I'm in," she agreed.

Chrissy pulled me aside. "Are you sure you trust her?" she whispered.

Scoria had been scaring me for the past week, but suddenly I felt safer around her, and even though she hadn't said anything about Chrissy, I knew if she wanted to kill her, she would've done it already.

"Yeah I trust her," I replied.

"Then I do too," Chrissy responded, "because I trust you."

The two of us sat down with her.

"So you thought I was one of the careers?" Scoria asked me.

"Well you are from a career district," I told her.

"So are you," she said simply.

"Yeah but you volunteered," I pointed out. "And you got a high training score," I added.

"I guess you're right," she told me. "The careers did want me to ally with them, but I turned them down."

"Why," Chrissy asked.

"Because I don't like them." She said matter-of-factly. "Plus it won't be long until they start slitting each others throats in their sleep. I think I'd much rather be in alliance with you guys," she added.

We were a weird alliance, no doubt about that. Three girls with almost nothing in common, but never the less, I kind of liked it.


	22. Day 3

**Sorry about the late update. I'll try to be better about posting them on time. Here's day three. I hope you guys like it.**

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Day 3 (Lucy's PoV)

With the help of Jewell's GPS, we were able to find where the girls from 3 and 8 had made their base. When we arrived, Navitia must've been out looking for food or water or something, but Modesty was there and that's all that mattered to me. She was the one I wanted. She was my kill. All that talk about purity and how girls needed to wear longer skirts. I was gonna show her.

"Jewell give me the bow," I ordered. She handed it to me and I carefully aimed for Modesty's heart. I let go of the arrow, and she fell to the ground. She didn't die instantly, but I was okay with that. I smiled victoriously as I listened to her cries for help, which after a few minutes, were droned out by a cannon.

(Scoria's PoV)

I woke up to the sound of Zilla's hyperactive breathing.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"A cannon went off," she replied sadly.

"Do you always freak out when that happens?" I wasn't completely sure, since I had only been allies with her for about 12 hours.

"Well yeah," she told me. "It means someone died. That's terrible."

And again with her innocence and vulnerability that confuse me so much.

"You don't even know who it's for," I pointed out.

"That's just it. It could be anybody's," She grew more and more panicked. She whimpered something that sounded an awful lot like the name of her tribute partner, but I decided not to ask.

I grabbed my jacket, since it was freezing and sat down next to her. "It's gonna be fine."

"You're lying," she said softly.

"I know," I told her. "Only because I don't wanna think about the truth."

Chrissy's eyes fluttered open. "Oh my gosh, it's cold," she complained.

"Really I hadn't noticed," I said in sarcastic annoyance.

"Zilla you've gotta make a fire," she told her.

Zilla looked at me fearfully. "Do you think that will attract the careers?"

She was right. It would give away exactly where we were, but the temperature seemed to be dropping each minute. I think she could sense that too.

"I guess we'll have to risk it," she said already gathering a pile of twigs to burn. "And I can start up a bunch of fires around the arena to try to lead them away from us."

That was a really dangerous thing for her to be doing. "Are you sure," I asked apprehensively.

"Yes," her voice was nervous, but firm.

I couldn't think straight while she was gone. Why did I let her go alone? What if she ran into another tribute? She couldn't fight them off. She _wouldn't _fight them off.

I worried until she can back running back breathlessly.

"What happened?" I asked alarmed. "Did someone chase you?"

"No, I'm fine," she assured. "I just figured I'd stay warmer if I moved faster."

She was shaking tremendously as she added more dry leaves to the fire.

"Are you still scared," I asked.

"I was just thinking. What if another tribute finds one of the other fires I made and uses it?" she wondered in fear.

I laughed. "Zilla, nobody's that stupid."

(Basil's PoV)

"Wow! A pre-made fire. How convenient!"

We all huddled around it. This was great. It had been freezing all day, and none of us could find a match. But here was a large, but still contained, fire that no one was using. We set our small bags down beside us and finally got to rest after a long day.

"Man, we really lucked out," Denim stated.

"Yeah, these games are a lot easier than I thought they'd be," I added. "One of us could actually win this thing."

"So what do we do if it comes down to the four of us? How do we decide who wins?" Cadwell asked.

Flux thought for a moment. "We could always play rock, paper, scissors or something."

The rest of us agreed. It seemed fair.

"Found them!" I heard from not even ten feet away. I quickly grabbed the two bags next to me as I jumped up and found myself face to face with the careers. I was able to dodge a knife that was thrown at me, but when I got up, I looked around to see a spear in Cadwell and a big axe next to Denim, who was bleeding like crazy.

Flux, being the tallest and strongest member of our group, was able to fight off the boy from six.

I ran over to him. "Flux, we have to get out of here." I hated leaving Denim and Cadwell like this, but I knew it was too late to save them. "We have to go. They're as good as dead anyway," I choked on my words.

Somewhat reluctantly, he followed me. I wasn't exactly sure where I was going, but I knew for a fact that I was getting out of there. We ran for a while, taking almost every turn possible, in hopes that it would keep the careers away from us.

Just then we heard two loud cannons fire within minutes of each other.

"Maybe having an alliance wasn't the best idea," I thought out loud.

"I think you're right," Flux agreed. "We should probably split up." He started to walk in another direction.

"Wait." I noticed that he didn't have any weapons or supplies on him. I took off my second bag and handed it to him. "Take this." He might not have been my ally anymore, but that didn't mean he wasn't my friend.

"Good luck," he told me.

"You too," I replied.

I walked alone for about another ten minutes until I found a spot where I felt it was safe to rest.

I set up a simple trap, hoping to catch an animal for food.

When the capitol anthem played, I couldn't bear to watch the dead tributes, knowing my friends were up there. I was deep in thought, wondering exactly how they met their end, when I heard the snap of my trap, but instead of finding food, I found the nerdy obnoxious boy from district three.

I began to think hard about killing. It couldn't be that difficult. The careers did it all the time and it seemed to have no effect on them at all. I wrapped my fingers around my pocketknife. I knew if I wanted to go home, I would have to kill. And this boy was a good enough kill as any.


	23. Day 4

**Here's day four of the competition. Enjoy!**

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Day 4 (Navitia's PoV)

It had been a whole day since Modesty died. I felt terrible. I wasn't able to help her because I was out looking for water. Granted, I probably wouldn't be able to do really anything fighting-wise, but I still felt guilty that I survived when she didn't.

As soon as figured out what happened to her, I decided to move base. It wouldn't do me any good to have a killer know where I was going to be sleeping. I still didn't understand how someone found us though. It wasn't like we had a huge fire or a large tent set up, and we certainly weren't being loud. It almost seemed like they had some sort of tracking device, but of course they couldn't have, because that would surely be cheating.

I heard a twig snap from nearby and when I looked up, I only had time to see Lucy standing not very far away with an arrow aimed straight at me.

(Zofia's PoV)

_Another Cannon!_ That had been eight so far. I had to put a stop to this. I figured that the best way for the game-makers to notice me is if I was on the cornucopia, so I climbed to the top.

"Hey Game-makers," I called. "This has to stop!" I ranted about how this was morally wrong.

"Did you know that killing is against one of the Ten Commandments? You are allowing and forcing kids to kill each other every year, so therefore you are indirectly breaking a commandment. This needs to stop! I don't want to be a part of these morbid games, so I demand you let me out of this arena right now!"

Nothing happened. Nothing at all. The wind just continued to howl like it had been doing all day.

"Did you hear me?!" I challenged. "I said I'm not going to play your hunger games, so what are you going to do about that!"

(Lucy's PoV)

A huge explosion came from the middle of the arena.

"What was that?" Daxon exclaimed.

A cannon fired, signaling that the explosion was used to kill a tribute.

Jewell shrugged, "Less work for us to do."

"I wonder who it was," Worth thought out loud.

"Don't think about it," Jewell advised. "It's gonna be dark soon. We'll find out in a little bit.

Thankfully, our sponsors sent us gourmet capitol food for dinner because we would not have been able to cook anything, even if we did have fire. Not with the wind blowing every which way like this.

"So do you think we'll be able to kill more people if we split up when we hunt," Jewell suggested.

"Probably," Worth said between bites. "Should we start doing that?"

"I don't see why not," Daxon replied. "It's not like it takes all four of us to fight a tribute."

"Even if they do have an alliance," I added.

"So let's start doing that," Jewell decided. "I want these games to be over quickly, so I can start living the good life as soon as possible."

The capitol anthem began to play and we attentively watched the night sky for the death toll. First it showed the girl from 3, but we already knew she was dead. I killed her earlier.

Then it showed the girl from 5. We were a little disappointed that it wasn't a real threat that died, but still, she was one dead tribute closer to living in the victors village.

After the capitol seal we decided to turn in so we would be alert for tomorrow's killing, and of course Daxon went out of his way to make sure he was lying down next to me. I'm not an idiot, I know what he wants, but he's not gonna get it. I'm a whore, I'll admit it, but more importantly right now, I'm a killer. And as a killer I need no distractions. What good was Daxon to our alliance anyway? We don't really need him. After all, he was the one who said it didn't take all four of us to fight a tribute.

Jewell and Worth wouldn't care, and even if they did, I could blame it on some other tribute.

Killing Daxon seemed like it would be to my advantage. As soon as he was out cold, I leaned over, took out my pocket-knife and slit his throat.


	24. Day 5

**I'm am so sorry about the late update. I've been sick and then I was busy with show choir auditions. Luckily, once school is out in a couple of weeks, I should be able to update much more often. Here's Day 5. Hope you like it.**

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Day 5 (Worth's PoV)

Jewell left early in the morning to go hunting tributes, and I woke up to a ton of fog, _and _one of my allies dead.

"Lucy!" I exclaimed. "Someone must've killed Daxon in the middle of the night."

"Oh my God," she sounded almost too surprised.

I began to think that maybe we shouldn't have been so cocky to think that we didn't need someone to stand guard during the night.

"What's going on," I heard another girls' voice. It looked like Jewell was coming back.

"Someone killed Daxon," I explained.

"Oh," she paused. "But our supplies are still safe?"

I sighed in annoyance. "Yes, Jewell, our supplies are fine."

"Good," she said relieved. Did she not care that we just lost a member of our alliance?

"And what have you been doing," I questioned. "I didn't hear any cannons go off."

"Well I found some kid's food supply," she began.

"Did you take it?" I asked.

"Why would I do that? We have plenty of food. I poisoned theirs," she said while flashing an empty vile.

"Good thinking," I admitted. She may be vain beyond belief, but she has some pretty good ideas. "Give me the GPS," I told her. "I'm going hunting."

I gotta hand it to Jewell for getting the sponsors to give that to us. Even with the huge amounts of training we'd had, I don't know what we'd do without it.

"Take a flashlight," she advised. "The fog's thick."

Last night I decided who my target was gonna be. The boy from district 11, Basil. He had escaped us once and I wasn't gonna let that happen again. He was also easier prey than some of the other tributes.

On my way to find him, a cannon fired. Undoubtedly the kid that Jewell poisoned. I looked down to the GPS screen to see that the number five was no longer there. It must've been the boy from that district.

It wasn't much longer before I found the boy I was looking for.

He must've seen me because he took off running. I didn't need to chase after him though. I didn't spend practically my whole life at the career academy for nothing. I could throw.

I hurled my spear through the air, and hit him hard, despite the distance. He collapsed.

I ran over to retrieve my weapon. As I pulled it out of him, I could tell he wasn't dead yet. I debated stabbing him again, but eventually decided not to. He was going to die soon. His breathing was slower and he could barely move. I couldn't just watch him die. I had to leave.

_If I was going to win, I was going to have to get a lot better at this_, I thought to myself.

(Zilla's PoV)

"Finally we'll be able to get some real food," Scoria said while aiming her knife. She had been able to corner a bunny-rabbit. It wasn't much, but it was meat. Unfortunately, Chrissy saw what she was doing.

"No!" She shrieked. "You can't do that! Don't kill the bunny!"

Scoria clicked her tongue out of sheer shock and irritation. "We're in the_ Hunger Games_, where we kill _children,_ and you're upset about killing a frickin' rabbit for food."

"Yeah," Chrissy replied. "The bunny doesn't deserve to die."

_Neither do 23 children each year,_ I thought, but I didn't dare bring it up in the middle of their argument.

Of course their argument, which had started out as simple bickering, had turned into a full-scale screaming fest.

I began to get even more nervous. Someone would definitely find us, if they kept this up.

"Guys, please shut up," I pleaded. "What if the careers find us?" They could probably hear us. How could they not? Scoria and Chrissy were being so loud that neither one of them could hear me, and I wasn't even ten feet away.

"Zilla, you're the innocent one and you're okay with this, right?" Scoria demanded.

"Well, I…uh…just try to be quiet," I stammered.

"But bunnies are so cute," Chrissy retorted.

"We need food!"

"We can't kill a bunny!"

I debated whether or not I should break it up. It would require me to scream. I knew I could be louder than the both of them combined if I really wanted to. And if people had probably already heard us, then what did it matter anyways.

"Guys!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.

They immediately stopped and stared at me, shocked that I could make that much noise. Now that I had their attention, I could return back to my normal voice.

"At this point, I really don't care whether we get food or not. Just keep quiet. You're making it so easy for the careers to find us. And if they do, they're gonna kill-"

And then a cannon went off. That was the second one today, not counting the one off in the middle of the night. It was overwhelming to think of so many people dying. I needed to sit down.

Scoria abandoned her fight with Chrissy and began counting on her finger. It took me a few moments to figure out what she was doing. She was counting off the dead tributes.

G-g-g, Archer, Maizey, Modesty, Denim, Cadwell, Gaylord, Navitia, Zofia, and three others; all gone.

"That's twelve," she said.

I sighed in despair.

She looked at me. "You know what this means don't you?"

Of course I knew what that meant. We were only five days into the games, and half of the competition was gone.

Half of the kids were dead.


	25. Day 6

**Well school's finally done. Over the summer I'm going to have a lot more time for writing, so that means I should be able to update at least weekly. Here's Day 6. Enjoy!**

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Day 6 (Willow's PoV)

I clutched my bow tightly as I tried to make out the voice by the lake. It sounded like a guy's voice, but as soon as I could figure out what he was saying, it became very obvious who it belonged to.

"Praise Tebow. Almighty savoir. You will save me."

Cutter. He wasn't a threat to me. He might be able to fight, but he had zero brain-power. I still went to the lake to collect water.

"I trust that my lord Tebow will save me."

"Oh my God, Cutter shut up," I said in exasperation. "Tim Tebow cannot save you from the hunger games."

He broke his "meditation" when he noticed me. Instead of attacking or running away, he just simply said, "yes he can."

_How stupid could he be?_ "No he can't," I argued, trying to keep my sanity.

"Yes he can. Tim Tebow is the greatest and he can save me from anything," he explained.

"He couldn't save me from shooting an arrow through your head," I told him.

"Sure he could," Cutter replied.

Not wanting to converse with him any longer, I took out my bow and arrow and proved him wrong.

(Zilla's PoV)

Since we didn't get any food yesterday, Scoria went out to look for some. Chrissy tagged along to try to prevent her from killing any animals, so that left me to watch over the supplies alone.

It started out as extremely boring, until I stared hearing things. I'm a nervous wreck, and almost always jump at small noises, but someone was here, I knew it.

I doubted that it was either Scoria or Chrissy, since they didn't leave that long ago.

Run or Hide? Those were my choices. Whoever it was could probably outrun me, so hiding seemed like my best option. I propped my hood up and pried myself into a bush. Not the best spot, but it was all I had time for.

Jewell stepped foreword and through a tiny open space in the bush, I could make out two objects in her hands: A knife and a GPS.

Her sponsors sent her a GPS. Is that even legal? Then again, I'm in an arena where children are forced to murder each other for sport. I don't think capitol people are big on legality.

She was able to find me very easily. She grabbed me by the arm and pulled me out. She didn't stab me when she first saw me, which made me more nervous as to why she didn't.

There was no use trying to escape. She had more strength in one hand than I had in my entire body. She was the highest scoring tribute and I was a terrified fourteen-year-old girl. There was no way I could make it out of this situation alive.

"If you're gonna kill me just do it already," I said, panicked.

She smiled deviously. "Oh no, I want them to watch," she pulled her knife closer to me. "Now scream or I'll make you."

(Scoria's PoV)

Zilla's cries for help rang throughout the arena, and a wave of panic swept over me.

"Chrissy, Zilla's hurt," I told her. "We have to go back, now!"

I immediately dropped everything in my hands and rushed back to our base.

What could've happened to her? Did she fall into a trap? Did the capitol send mutts on her? But when I got there it was evident that she was in an even worse situation. Her neck was right below the knife held by Jewell Hanglow.

I looked at Zilla's skin that was now filled with fresh cuts, obviously given by Jewell. Even though there were a lot of them, none were deep enough to kill her immediately. And Chrissy knew a little bit about medicine. If I could just get Zilla into her hands and out of Jewell's, she'd be fine.

I grabbed the gun from my backpack. "Let her go," I demanded.

Jewell went completely unaffected. "If you try anything I swear I'll make her pay," she threatened.

I had to do something. If I waited too long, Zilla could very well bleed to death. A bullet would move faster than a knife, so I had the advantage. I just needed to shoot Jewell in exactly the right place.

I concentrated on shooting her heart, but she was quick enough to dodge it, and Zilla's neck took the blow from her knife.

(Chrissy's PoV)

I ran over to Zilla. The gash on her neck was too big for simple cut medicine. It probably couldn't even be healed by stitches or other intense emergency medical procedures.

Jewell had escaped and Scoria was beside me, screaming frantically. "Fix her!" She commanded.

"I can't," I answered, upset. How could she think I could fix this?

"I wish I could, but I can't," I told Scoria sincerely.

Zilla's breathing became slower and slower until it eventually stopped and her cannon fired.

"Damn it," Scoria cussed through gritted teeth. "Why did I let her stay here alone?"

"It's not your fault," I tried to assure her.

"Yes it is," she screamed in frustration.

I left Scoria alone for the rest of the night. She seemed like she didn't want to be around other people.

At night, during the death toll, I saw the Tebow obsessed boy from 7, and then I saw Zilla in the sky. Just seconds later she disappeared from the world forever. I finally started to get what she meant about death being permanent. No matter what I wanted she would never come back. None of the tributes would.


	26. Day 7

**All right, here's Day 7. Enjoy!**

* * *

Day 7 (Ashby's PoV)

"There," Sage pointed. "There's a lot of trees, they should block us from the rain."

This morning was not pleasant whatsoever. We we're awoken by a huge clap of thunder and then it started pouring. Luckily there wasn't any lightning, but the rain still ruined a good amount of our food supply. Since then we'd been running around the arena looking for somewhere to keep dry.

"Yes," Sage sighed of relief. "No one's here." He sat down his bag. "I hope it stops raining soon."

"At least it wasn't acidic," I pointed out, while trying to squeeze the water out of my messy brown hair.

"Shh, you'll give them ideas," he joked, or at least I hoped he was joking.

He was shaking his wet hair at me in an attempt to dry it.

"Stop," I told him and pushed him away playfully. Of course that just made him try to flip his hair even more. He kept it up until he tripped into some plants.

I would've burst out laughing if the vines hadn't wrapped themselves around his legs and wrists. This wasn't some ordinary plant; this was a capitol muttation.

"Sage," I shrieked. His skin was blotched and red, and he was wincing in pain.

"I've got to get you out of this-" I said making my way to his arm.

"No!" he screamed. "You can't touch. What if it spreads?"

"But-" I attempted to argue.

"You have to get out f here," he pleaded.

"Not without you," I told him.

"Ashby, listen. Take my bag and go," he ordered. "Please, just do that for me."

For him, for my friend. That's why I grabbed our bags and ran away. Not caring about the rain or the other tributes, I just sat down and cried.

Who knew how the plants were torturing him, and he wouldn't even let me try to help.

A cannon fired, and I didn't even need to see the hovercraft going in his direction to know it was his. Still sobbing, I began to look through his bag. There was a canteen, some dried fruit and the mace. I couldn't believe that a week ago I had laughed at his insanity for taking that weapon when he didn't know how to use it, and now he was gone.

It was hard to hate the other tributes for this. That was a capitol plant that killed my friend.

(Chrissy's PoV)

"Scoria, why do we have to go hunting in the rain," I complained. The water was messing up my hair, plus it was extremely cold. The only reason I came with her was to try to stop her from killing anything cute and fluffy.

"Everybody else will be hiding from the rain. We won't have much competition for food," she replied, irritated.

"I still don't see why we have to kill animals," I told her.

"Fine! How about this: You go pick berries, and I'll kill a couple of squirrels and then we'll see who has a better meal," she offered harshly.

"Okay, I'll do that," I responded. I walked over to a small bush with edible berries. My hand touched another hand from the other side as I tried to grab one. I screamed before I recognized him. It was Scoria's tribute partner.

"Hey, I was here first," he told me.

"What now," Scoria came over becoming more annoyed with me by the minute. "I swear to God, I can't leave you alone for two seconds…" she stopped mid-sentence when her gaze focused on the boy.

"Shale," she said astounded.

"Scoria," he looked extremely happy to see her. He was, however, covered in bruises.

"What happened?" Scoria asked.

"The third day I ran into the boy from seven," he explained. "He may be an idiot, but he knows how to use a club. I eventually got rid of him by telling him that Tim Tebow was over by the cornucopia. But I haven't seen you at all since the games started. What's been happening with you?"

"Well," she began with gesturing to me, "I teamed up with her and Zilla…but she died yesterday," he voice quieted a little.

"She took it pretty hard," I commented about Scoria.

"Aw, who knew you had a heart?" Shale joked.

Scoria hit him lightly upside the head.

The two of them just began talking. Their conversation started out about the games, but it slowly began to drift into them reminiscing about different things they did back in district two. Sponsors must've found this entertaining because we were sent some rolls. It wasn't a whole lot, but it was good since we hadn't had any successful hunting or gathering for the past three days.

It was so obvious that they liked each other. I know Shale "pulled a Peeta" and confessed his love on live TV, but their chemistry seemed to be much more than I originally thought. Sadly, it reminded me of how much I wanted a star-crossed lover.

"Remember that time we took the furniture in your sister's room and hid it in one of the forests," Shale said laughing.

"Oh yeah, that was great," Scoria agreed.

"Well isn't this adorable," a mocking voice said behind us. We turned around to see the girl from district six with her bow.

Scoria reached for her gun, but by the time that it was in her hand, Lucy had already shot an arrow straight into Shale's heart.

Within a split second of his cannon, Scoria shot a bullet at Lucy's head, causing another cannon to fire.

I always knew Scoria would be able to kill if she needed to, but it shocked me as to how quickly she was able to do it, without even thinking about it.

"God, I'm such an idiot," she verbally beat herself up. "Why did I ever set my gun down in the first place?"

"It's gonna be all right," I told her. "Don't cry-"

"I'm not crying!" she denied hotly.

She looked like she was at a breaking point, and I couldn't blame her. She had just lost two people she cared about in two days. As she stormed off I could tell she wasn't coming back.

I was left without an alliance.

While contemplating what to do, I heard a higher pitched crying from a little ways away. Part of me thought it could be a trap, but it did sound like genuine sadness, so I decided to follow it. The sobbing led me to the twelve-year-old girl from district twelve.

"Are you okay?" I asked softly.

She looked up, startled. "Oh, I didn't realize anyone else was around." She made a quick grab for a knife in her bag. She didn't use it, but she still kept it at her side. I must've scared her.

"It's nothing, I'm…" she looked like she was trying to say she was fine, but she just couldn't bring herself up to do it. She sighed, "my friend, Sage was killed this morning."

"By who?" I asked.

"A _capitol_ plant," she answered, putting extra emphasis on who created the plant.

"That's terrible," I said honestly.

"My friend, Zilla, was killed by Jewell yesterday," I told her. "Did you know she has a GPS," I added.

Ashby just rolled her eyes. "You've gotta be kidding me. That shows absolutely no skills. I couldn't stand it if someone like her won." She began to get real serious. " But that's not exactly why I feel like I have to win now. It's more like if I don't, who's gonna avenge Sage's death. Who's gonna make sure he's not forgotten? I have to find a way to make sure that doesn't happen."

"Well since we both just lost our allies, maybe we could team up," I suggested.

The young girl thought about it for a moment then gave me a small smile and shrugged. "Sure, why not? Sounds like a plan."


	27. Day 8

**Here's day 8 of the games. Enjoy!**

* * *

Day 8 (Ashby's PoV)

"Chrissy, wake up," I shook her shoulder.

She mumbled something incomprehensive.

"Chrissy, I've got a plan. Wake up," I tried again.

She squinted and rolled over. "It's early morning," she moaned.

"I'm gonna take out the careers," I told her.

Her eyes shot open immediately and she bolted upright. I guess _that_ woke her up. I should've started with that. "What?" she said in alarm.

"Come on," I urged.

"Ashby," she said apprehensively. "No offense or anything, but you're the youngest tribute. How on earth do you think you can fight them?"

"I'm not going to fight them," I corrected her. I pulled out my blow-gun. "I'm going to go for a sneak attack." I left for their base, leaving her to follow me. I knew she was a little reluctant and nervous about this, but she eventually agreed on the way there.

At their base, I hid behind some of the trees and bushes. I looked through the leaves and saw Jewell and Worth, both asleep near each other.

I dipped my dart into my small vile of nightlock juice that I've had since the beginning of the games. _Can I really do this,_I thought to myself. _Why not? They do it all the time. Plus this poison works fast. It'll probably be painless, _I assured myself._ I have to do this. I have to win. For my survival. For Adina. For Sage_

I carefully aimed for Jewell. I only had one dart left, and I wanted her out more. I was about to shoot my blow dart when-

"Ashby." Chrissy grabbed my shoulders and caused me to lose focus.

"That was my last dart and you ruined my aim," I chided her.

"Sorry," she apologized sheepishly, "but you didn't completely miss."

I looked back at the careers. Jewell was unharmed, but my dart had ended up in Worth's chest. He would be dead within minutes. If we wanted to kill Jewell too, we would have to be quick.

"Chrissy did you bring your knife?" I asked.

"No," she admitted. "I thought you had it under control."

There was no way to kill her without waking her up before I could. Then I had an idea. I ran inside their base.

"What are you doing?" Chrissy whispered.

I didn't want to reply until I was out of there. I quickly found their supplies. I could've stolen some of their food or weapons, but I only wanted one thing: The GPS. I grabbed it and hid it under my jacket, then quickly ran out.

"Come on," I told Chrissy. The two of us ran back to our base. Worth's cannon went off on the way there.

"What did you take?" Chrissy asked.

I pulled it out from under my coat. She looked shocked.

"Her tracking device," she said astonished. "What are we going to do with it?"

We could use it, but that would only show that we absolutely need the capitol's help.

"We're gonna get rid of it," I decided. I slammed the device against a nearby rock, breaking it into several pieces.

"Now she has no alliance, and no GPS," I stated. "She's gonna be cut down to size."

(Scoria's PoV)

Around mid-day it started snowing. I hated this weather-changing arena. It was freezing and I had no idea how to make a fire. Zilla had always done that when I was in an alliance with her. The game-makers were mocking me.

I tried to block my old ally from my mind, but it was hard to do when I heard her screams. It was the same scream from when Jewell was cutting her, followed by a painful one of Shale's.

I looked around frantically. _They couldn't be here_, I reminded myself. _They couldn't be here because they're dead._

If they weren't being tortured, it could only mean one other option: Electronic Jabberjays.

After the second rebellion failed, the capitol killed off all the mockingjays. Then to make sure that no more would be created, they killed off all the mockingbirds and jabberjays. Later they realized they had no jabberjays to torture tributes with, so they decided to electronically recreate them. This new version was just like the original jabberjay except it was completely mechanical and completely controlled by the capitol.

"What's the point of this," I screamed, not caring who could hear me. "I know they're dead! How could I think they're in danger if they're not even here anymore?"

Why couldn't it all just stop? Didn't the capitol realize that I knew exactly what they were doing? I turned around to see the robot bird sitting on a tree branch mimicking the tortured sounds of the very few people that I actually care about.

"You stupid bird!" I yelled. "I can see you! I know it's you screaming! Just shut up!" I fiercely fought back tears. I was not going to be looked at as weak, especially not after making it this far.

In a desperate attempt to make it stop, I started throwing rocks at it. After my fourth shot, one finally hit its head and it exploded, but that didn't help much though. Even with the mutt gone, Zilla and Shale's cries of agony still echoed throughout my head.


	28. Day 9

**Alright, here's Day 9 of the games. The inspiration for the N.O.R.A.'s came from my friend's pet. Enjoy!**

* * *

Day 9 (Ashby's PoV)

I pushed my wet hair out of my eyes. It was storming really hard this morning. Even with the thunder and lightning, Chrissy was still fast asleep. I debated waking her, but eventually decided not to. I didn't want anyone to talk me out of this. I was going after Jewell. I wanted to win this thing as soon as possible.

I made my way to our group of bags and picked out mine. I looked inside to make sure it was the right one. Mine, Chrissy's and Sage's bags all looked exactly the same on the outside.

I started running towards Jewell's base. As I got closer, I ducked down and hid behind some bushes. I looked through the leaves to see her.

I was hoping she'd be asleep, but Jewell was awake and it seemed like she was on guard. I was glad to see that breaking the GPS was getting to her, but it would make things a lot more difficult for me. I wasn't exactly great with confrontation.

I tried to keep my feet from stepping in the puddles, but they we're everywhere. I was starting to second-guess myself. _Maybe I should go back, I'm no good at fighting._

I was about to give in to my doubting thoughts when I heard a noise swish past me. I looked to my right to see a throwing knife in the tree next to me.

I gulped nervously. What had I gotten myself into? She must've heard me. She knew I was here.

(Flux's PoV)

I flinched at the sound of thunder. A couple days ago it was raining, but now it was storming, with lighting and wind and everything. I absolutely hated storms, but I didn't want to move. I was scared of thunderstorms, but I was even more terrified of running into another tribute. After seeing what happened to Denim and Cadwell, I didn't think I could do that to another person.

It's not that I didn't want to win. I did. I wanted to go home and see my brothers, but how could I face them knowing I was a murderer? I just couldn't do it.

Since day 4, I had been staying on my own and out of everyone's way. The game-makers probably hated me, but I didn't know what to do.

I heard a loud growl from behind the bushes. I armed myself with a trident hoping to scare whatever it was off, but as the creatures jumped out, I knew my three-pronged spear wouldn't do much.

I recognized these capitol mutts. They're called N.O.R.A.'s, which stands for Notorious Overly Rabid Animals. They look like border collies, except they're about four times that size and have huge claws and poisonous fangs.

More of them advanced towards me and kept me surrounded. I don't know a whole lot about N.O.R.A.'s, but I do know their purpose. N.O.R.A.'s don't stop attacking you until you're dead.

(Chrissy's PoV)

I woke up to pouring rain, screaming, and a cannon. The screaming was a lower pitch, so it could've only been Flux's.

"It looks like it's an all girls competition now," I turned to tell Ashby, but to my surprise, she wasn't there.

"Ashby," I called. I looked around for her and noticed that her bag was gone. I had a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. What if she went after Jewell? She had tried yesterday, and it didn't work. I also knew she wanted to win fast.

She might've been gone for a really long time, I realized. I ran as fast as my legs could take me, using the same path that Ashby and I had used yesterday, but I wasn't fast enough. Just before I reached the base, a cannon went off.

_This can't be happening,_ I thought as I approached the awful seen. It looked like Ashby and Jewell had fought in combat with small knives. Ashby was covered in blood and her body looked stiff. I couldn't move any closer.

I slumped down behind a group of bushes and put my head in my hands. _It's not fair,_ I wanted to scream. She's twelve. She had her whole life ahead of her. She had a sister. A twin sister who was the same age as Reuben.

I couldn't imagine what this whole experience must be like for him. My determination to go back to him grew even stronger.

Later that night, after the anthem and the pictures of the fallen tributes, Flux and Ashby, I heard a chorus of trumpets followed by an announcement from Claudius Templesmith.

"Ladies, there will be a feast tomorrow. There will be a bag filled with food, weapons, and other supplies that could help you win, but there will only be one bag, so only one of you can get it. Good luck!"

If that bag could help me, I had to get it. It looked like I was going to a feast tomorrow.


	29. Day 10

Day 10 (Chrissy's PoV)

The suns rays shone brightly onto my eyelids, which fluttered open. It was already beginning to get light out. The feast would be starting soon; then again, with my sleeping in patterns, it might've already started.

_No, that couldn't have happened,_ I tried to reassure myself. I had to get that bag.

Rather absent-mindedly, I grabbed my backpack with my small knives for defense. It seemed heavier than I remembered, but I ignored it.

I ran through the arena, making my way to the cornucopia. The weather was extremely hot and dry. It was a bit of an improvement from yesterday's storms, but it still wasn't fun. It was a good amount of time before I reached the cornucopia.

I waited along the edges on the outside of it and behind some plants to stay hidden better.

Nothing about the scene triggered me to believe that the feast had already taken place. I figured the capitol wouldn't let it go without anyone dying and I hadn't heard any cannons yet. It was relieving to know that I hadn't missed it.

All I had to do now was wait.

(Scoria's PoV)

I saw the trapdoor under the cornucopia open and reveal a large backpack with food, water, weapons and medicine. I ran out to go grab it, but I was followed closely by Jewell.

"I wasn't expecting to see you hear," she called.

I really should've ignored her and kept running, but I didn't. I stopped mid-way and turned to her. "Why?"

"It's just, you seemed like you were going crazy after you saw that little girl die. You know, the one I killed." She did her best to imitate my frantic screaming then erupted into a fit of laughter. "Oh, and I can only imagine how you reacted to the death of your precious boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend," I said tensely.

"Well, not anymore," she pointed out. "He's dead now."

"You see that's the difference between you and me," she went on. "You think you're so tough, but you're really not. You care about people. You get upset when something bad happens to someone you care about. And look at you now; you're a complete mess. There's no way you can win in that state. I can win though. I only look out for myself. Caring makes you weak."

I could've shot her, right now. It wouldn't have been hard. I had my gun in my hand and she was in my range. And once I took her out, I could win easily.

_But what would happen if I did win? _ I had wanted to defy the capitol in some way, but I had no idea what I was doing. And going home didn't seem so great either. The only person I liked back there had come here too. I had just watched the only people I learned to care about die right in front of me. If I won, I would have nothing to go back to. Nothing to live for.

I locked eyes with Jewell before throwing my handgun aside.

"Do your worst."

(Chrissy's PoV)

I didn't understand. I knew Scoria was a better fighter then Jewell. She could've taken her. Why did she give up?

Jewell grabbed her knives and began stabbing. Unable to watch, I averted my eyes away from that to see a figure heading towards the cornucopia.

It was Willow, the girl from district 7. She was just walking up to the cornucopia, in no hurry whatsoever, and nobody else was noticing her. I could've laughed at Jewell. She was so busy trying to make sure that Scoria had the worst death as possible, that she didn't even realize that the very thing that she came to the middle of the arena for was being taken right behind her.

Willow hoisted the backpack onto her shoulders and continued to walk back to wherever she came from.

I decided I it was a good idea to leave the area. I did not want to be there when Jewell found out.

I was a little upset about not getting the bag, but I'd much rather Willow have it than Jewell any day.

On the way back to my base, I heard Scoria's cannon fire. I still couldn't believe what she had done. Moments later that was followed by a shriek from Jewell. She was not happy about losing the supply bag.

The walk back seemed much warmer and air didn't seem as clear. At first I thought it was fog, but as I advanced towards my base to see it in flames, it became very clear that it was smoke.

I quickly ran the other direction. The fire was huge, only the game-makers could've caused it. It didn't seem to be chasing me though. I wondered why it was there until I remembered my supplies. I left nearly all of it back at my base. I only brought one backpack with me. I took it off of my shoulders and unzipped it.

It wasn't my backpack.

It was Ashby's spare bag, which I now realized look exactly like all of the others. She didn't take this one with her when she was carrying out offensive plans. She used this one to remind her of Sage. It had nothing in it except for the mace he had taken from the cornucopia on the first day.

_Great, just great_. I didn't know what to do with a mace. I sighed nervously. I had no idea what I was going to do. I was one of three tributes left, I had no allies, no food, no water, and a weapon that I had no clue how to use.


	30. Day 11

**Okay, so it's the last day of the games. I will have an ending sort of chapter about the final interviews and the victory tour and stuff, and I should have that posted in about a week or two. But for now, here's the ending of the games. Enjoy!**

* * *

Day 11 (Willow's PoV)

The other tributes were idiots. I literally _walked_ to the cornucopia and no one seemed to notice, let alone try to stop me.

By now, Jewell probably realized that the bag was gone and was probably after me, but it was worth it.

The bag had actual food. Fully cooked meat and bread that wasn't stale, like the kind you might find in parachutes if you have good sponsors. I finally got some clean water too. It had been days since I got that. Also with the weather changing everyday, it was easy to catch a cold, so fever tablets helped a ton.

I heard a snap of a twig nearby. It was more than likely Jewell. I held my bow at my side just in case, even though I wasn't expecting an attack just yet, at least not a surprise one. She didn't seem to like those. I noticed that she liked to be noticed. She liked to put on a show and torture other tributes. It was horrible and cruel, but it would keep me one step ahead of her.

I had several arrows left. _Just try and end this now,_ I told myself. I aimed one at the spot where I heard the noise. I released my arrow and hoped for the best. It was quiet for a moment, and I though I might've actually hit her, but then she stepped foreword, completely unharmed.

"Nice try," Jewell smirked. "Now I believe you have something of mine."

"It's not yours if I took it," I replied trying to keep calm. I set down my bow and traded it for the dagger that was in my new bag. Close combat wasn't really a strength of mine, but it was my only option.

"I think the bag should belong to the victor," she said.

"Who says it's gonna be you," I retorted.

Angrily, she threw one of her knives at me. I was just barely able to dodge it, but I fell to the ground doing so. She used that chance to tackle me. I tried to thrust her off of me, but since she's from district one where they're not malnourished whatsoever, she was strong. I was putting up a better fight than I expected though. She noticed that too, so she quickly stabbed me in the upper chest. It was excruciatingly painful, but I couldn't scream or cry. I couldn't give her any more satisfaction than she already had.

I heard another noise advancing toward us.

_Is this really a time for mutts,_ I thought irritably, but it wasn't a capitol creation. It was the blonde girl from district 11. She looked like she was chased here by a swarm of bugs of some kind. It was obvious why she was sent here. The game-makers wanted the competition over today. Jewell stabbed me again, this time closer to my heart.

I looked over at Chrissy. That girl was Jewell's next target.

(Chrissy's PoV)

I swatted at the bugs swarming around me. I hate bugs. I hate them so much. They're irritating and disgusting.

I heard a cannon fire and it suddenly dawned on me why I was chased here. This is where the game-makers wanted the final battle to take place.

I hoped the cannon was Jewell's, but those thoughts quickly vanished after seeing the familiar dark haired girl standing victoriously holding her bloody knife.

"I was really hoping I'd get to be the one to finish you off," she said with a twisted smile. Her hair was a mess, and her right eye twitched slightly.

"Why?" I asked. My nerves were increasing quickly. "What did I ever do to you? I didn't mean to almost hit you during basic training."

"Yeah right," she scoffed. "You were probably hoping to injure me, so I'd be at a disadvantage."

"No, I wasn't. Honestly," I pleaded. "I'm not smart enough to think of a plan like that." My nerves started to turn into anger as she kept shouting different accusations at me.

"And then you go around trying to look all pretty at the parade and interviews, trying to steal my sponsors," she blamed viciously.

"I'm not stealing your sponsors," I pointed out irritably. "And why should you care? Didn't the sponsors you have send you a GPS?"

"Because I deserved it," she shrieked defensively.

"No you didn't. And it was a good thing Ashby destroyed it," I told her.

She flushed angrily. "Well that little girl got what was coming to her. And so will you."

I grabbed the mace out of Ashby's bag. Maybe the weapon itself could be threatening enough to make Jewell back off, but it didn't seem like she noticed that I even took it out. She just continued ranting.

"I promised the game-makers and the people watching that if they gave me a tracking device, I would give them a good show. And I do that by killing. I can kill. I was born to kill. I was trained to kill. I'm good at everything, but I'm best at that. You can't win. You have no experience and I have tons of it. You don't have what it takes. I do. I've killed everyone you were friends with in this competition, plus more."

The truth of her comment made my blood boil. Zilla, Ashby, and Scoria were all murdered by Jewell.

I couldn't stand to listen to her any longer. Why did she have to make a big speech? And more importantly, why did I have to listen?

"And lastly, I'm gonna kill you," she finished. "I wonder how your baby brother's gonna react. Do you think he'll cry?"

My anger snapped. My head was no longer in control and my body took over. "Shut up about him!" I screamed at her. As soon as my voice stopped ringing, the arena became very quiet.

I looked down to see that the mace was no longer in my hands. I must have thrown it in a fit of anger. I tried to calm down with deep breaths. _It couldn't have gone far,_ I told myself. My arm is not that good. As my eyes searched around for it, I realized something, or someone, who wasn't very far from me. Jewell. The mace was in her head. She was bleeding profusely as she collapsed and her cannon fired.

I backed away slowly while breathing heavily. She was dead. That meant I could go home. I squeezed my eyes shut and pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. When I opened my eyes again, nothing about the scene changed, except for the trumpet music and Claudius Templesmith's voice.

"Congratulations Chrysanthemum Xenobeth. The victor of the 93rd Annual Hunger Games."


	31. InterviewTourEnd

**Okay, here is the final chapter. It's kind of long compared to all my others. Enjoy!**

* * *

Final Interview (Chrissy's PoV)

After I was fixed up by some capitol people, I was embraced my stylist Flora. "It's so good to see you," she trilled.

Ebony smiled and laughed. "That was awesome, kid. So many capitol people lost tons of money placing bets that Jewell was gonna kill you. And then you with that mace, my God I didn't expect that. Good to have you back."

I smiled sheepishly. I was still almost speechless from yesterday.

"People around here have been saying that you pretended to get a low score to trick your competitors," she told me.

"But I didn't," I answered truthfully.

"Well pretend you did," she advised. I didn't need to be told twice. It's common knowledge that whatever the capitol thinks is your strategy was your strategy.

My prep team got to work with me before my final interview. As painful as some of their beauty procedures were, it felt great to feel clean again.

After that, Flora helped me get into my dress. It was a full length, soft pink, sleeveless gown with a sweet-heart neckline.

"Beautiful," she crooned.

"Thanks," I muttered.

"Are you doing alright, sweetie?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said breathlessly. "I'm just still in shock that I actually won."

"You're not upset are you?" she pressed.

"No, no," I assured her. "Just surprised."

Shocked as I was, I was happy about winning. Tons of good would come out of it. I was going to get to see my brother, district 11 would be given food, and I was going to live. I just had to get through several parades and interviews first.

Like any interview, Caesar started out with some cheesy jokes before introducing his guest, which this time was me. "Now let's give it up for Chrissy Xenobeth."

The crowd cheered more than they did at the pre-games interview. I sat down in the chair across from Caesar.

"Chrissy, I'm so glad to have you back, though probably not as glad as you are to be back," he joked.

"Yeah," I smiled nervously. "It's great to be back."

"I gotta say," he began. "I loved the surprise ending. Who knew you could use a mace?" he added.

_I sure didn't_, I thought to myself.

"So what's the best thing about winning?" he questioned.

"I love that I get to see my family and friends again, especially my little brother," I replied.

My comment received several "Awws " from the audience.

I had a hard time sitting still through the video. It was awful, I didn't want to look, but I was expected to. They managed to fit 11 days into a single highlight show. They did that by showing the most graphic and horrible parts. All of the deaths were included. Some were so quick that they didn't even have time to see their lives flash before their eyes. Others' were slow and painful. I fought back tears as I saw the deaths of all three of my allies: Zilla, Ashby, and Scoria. Near the end of the video was when I killed Jewell. It was weird to see this from someone else's perspective. The way I got so upset about the comment about Reuben that I lost control of myself. As soon as the mace hit Jewell's head, the video ended.

A buzzer went off and Caesar sighed. "Well that's all we have for tonight. Tune in tomorrow for reruns of the games and the day after that for live coverage of the victory tour.

Right there's that, I remembered. It was an unpleasant reminder that they moved the victory tour up to right after the games.

Victory Tour

Ebony knocked on the door to my room on the train. "We're almost in district twelve, are you ready?"

"Yeah, I'll be out in a minute," I called.

Winning was starting to take its toll on me with the victory tour. It used to take place halfway between this years and last years games, so we would feel the capitol's wrath year round, but now they just showed mandatory reruns of past games. Ever since the 2nd rebellion the victory tour has taken place right after the games. With another day of train riding and eleven other districts to visit, it would be another twelve days before I got to see my family and friends.

The other change to the tour is that instead of just sending the dead tributes home in a box, their bodies are shown in caskets at the tour. They're not bloody and marred like they were at the games. The capitol thinks that by making them look "TV presentable" it makes it okay. It's their way of saying, "look what we can do to your children and you can't stop us."

Right before we arrived in district 12, Lilac rambled on about different things for me to keep in mind. "….Smile, but only when appropriate of coarse…..and say nice things, but don't say too much –we don't want to start a rebellion," she laughed a little, but I could tell she was genuinely scared. She looked pretty tense. So did almost everyone else.

As soon as I walked onstage, I couldn't help but notice the two small lifeless figures in caskets. All of the tributes were robbed of their childhoods, but these two had the most stolen from them. They weren't even teenagers yet.

With my mind throbbing and clouded, I made my way up to the microphone. "Um.. first I would like to say that I'm really sorry that you lost two incredible people." I began to think about what Ashby had said to me just days ago, about not wanting people to forget.

"I only got to know Sage and Ashby for a little while, but a lot of you guys have known them longer and better, and I hope you'll remember them." I breathed heavily. That wasn't enough. "I know it will probably be easier and less painful to try to forget about all of this, but they don't deserve that. I'll keep them in my mind, because their memories shouldn't die with them."

I hoped that would help keep Ashby and Sage remembered.

Since district 11 was my home, we had to skip it and visit district 10 the next day.

There, a couple minutes were spent to mourn the death of Cadwell, but for the most part it was a party to celebrate no more G-g-g.

As expected, I wasn't welcomed so happily everywhere else. I had to face people who hated me. They had a right to though. Even if I didn't kill their tributes, it was the fact that since I was alive, their tributes couldn't be.

In district 4 I learned how the games affected children of all ages. During the end of the mayor's speech he said the names of both of their tributes: Zilla and Flux.

A little boy piped up from the side platform. "That's brother's name!"

"Yeah, where is he?" one a little taller than him added.

"We wanna see him," the smallest one of the three added.

These must've been Flux's little brothers. All three of them could walk and talk, but the oldest one couldn't have been over 5 years old.

I turned to Ebony once I got offstage. "Oh my gosh, they don't know, do they?" My voice was shaking.

Ebony shrugged. "Guess not, they're awful young to understand."

Later that day before I left, I was approached by the three little boys.

"Do you know where brother is?" the middle one asked.

"No one will tell us-"

"And we wanna know." The littlest one completed.

I stared down at their young faces. How could I tell them that their brother was dead?

"Is he coming back?" the oldest one asked.

"No, I'm sorry," I said solemnly.

They shared expressions of worry and despair.

"But I'm sure he's in a better place now," I added truthfully.

This comment seemed to relieve the boys.

On the other side of the platform was a set of parents who looked deeply unconcerned and like they had better things to do. In front of them were two girls, just a little younger than Reuben, who were squeezing each other's hands while crying silently. Even though they looked nothing like her, I recognized them as Zilla's sisters from what she had told me about them. I wanted to make sure they were okay.

"Pomelina, Farrell. I'm really sorry about what happened to your sister," I apologized.

The older blonde, Pomelina, sighed. "We knew she wasn't going to come back."

"She's too nice to kill anything," Farrell, the smaller brunette added.

"But you were her friend. We could tell she wanted you to win," Pomelina explained.

"So it's okay. We're happy somebody she liked won," Farrell told me.

So maybe not everyone outside of my district completely hated me for winning, I realized. Of course, that idea totally vanished once we arrived in the other career districts. Like Ebony predicted, one and two were the hardest to visit.

At two, everyone the crowd shot me death glares. I bet most of them didn't even know Scoria and Shale. They were upset that their district got outshined by a poorer one.

Once the ceremony was over and the cameras were off, I got a look at their caskets. I began to wonder what would happen if neither of them entered the games. Since they obviously liked each other (even of Scoria was too stubborn to admit it) they could've gotten married. They could've lived a normal life. All tributes could of it weren't for the games.

The people in district one seemed to hate me even more. I could see why based on my experiences with Worth and Jewell.

There was a group of crying girls near the front of the crowd.

"Her ally killed the love of my life."

"He was gonna come back to me."

"I loved him and he loved me-"

"No he loved me!"

I seriously doubted that any of them were actually his girlfriend, but either way they started fighting and they eventually had to be escorted out by peacekeepers.

Looking at Jewell's lifeless corpse was scary. Every time I saw it I had to think, _I did that, I took her life away from her._

By the end of the day I was happy to have all that over with, but I still couldn't get the past eleven days out of my head. Noticing my distress, Ebony tried to bring me some good news. "Look on the bright side: Tomorrow were going home."

District 11

When I finally got home, I first had to visit the mayor's office with cameras following me all around. It was a small interview in which he thanked me for brining food to our district.

After that I went to town-square for Basil's mourning. Each year, the families and friends of the fallen tribute went there to grieve. As a victor I was expected to come, but I really came to reflect on Basil.

A lot of people showed up. He must've had a lot of friends. A lot of people who were going to miss him.

When his casket was opened, a dirty-blonde girl near the front choked on a sob. She tried to hold her ground despite tears streaming down her face. She must've been his girlfriend, Rosella.

I wanted to talk to her, but I decided to wait until after the crowd and cameras had left, because otherwise it would've seemed impersonal.

After the mourning, she sat on a bench in front of a nearby shop and put her head in her hands.

"Um…Rosella," I approached her cautiously.

She looked up startled and began to wipe her eyes. "Oh, Chrissy. I'm sorry, I shouldn't be crying. I should be happy. District 11 won. Some of our starving citizens are gonna be fed…" She sounded like she was trying to convince herself.

"No one expects you to be happy," I told her sincerely.

"I-I just m-miss Basil," she stammered.

Guilt tied my stomach into knots. I felt sickened with myself for trying to steal Basil from her during the training and interviews. For once I was glad he turned me down to stay faithful to this girl.

"He really liked you," I said honestly.

She gave a small smile then sniffled. "Before he left, he told me that if he didn't come back he wanted me to move on. But….I just don't think I can do that." She started to cry again. I couldn't fathom what she must've been going through. To have anyone you love taken away from you, whether it was a friend, family member, or a boyfriend, was hard.

"I'm so sorry about everything," I said sympathetically.

She wiped her eyes and stood up. "I should probably start heading home, and you probably wanna go see your family too," she explained.

"Take care," I told her.

"You too," she replied.

On my way home, after being greeted by several strangers, I was spotted by Amaryllis.

"Chrissy!" she said excitedly. She ran up and hugged me. "I missed you so much," she gushed.

"It's so great to see you," I responded.

She and I walked to my house together. I didn't really wanna talk about the games, so she decided to tell me about what happened around here while I was gone. She stopped once we reached my front door. "Why don't you come over to my house tomorrow and we can catch up some more then." she offered. "I know your brother really wants to see you.

"Sure," I agreed.

I walked inside to find my family in the living room. Reuben beamed as he came up to hug me.

"I knew you were gonna win. I just knew it," he told me.

I pulled him in for another hug. "Thanks for believing in me. You have no idea how much I've missed you."

My parents looked happy to see me. My mom also looked happy that she could once again invade my personal life. "So what's this about you wishing you had a boyfriend during your interviews?" she questioned.

I could almost laugh at how superficial I was. I was so obsessed with finding a boyfriend, while now the thought didn't even cross my mind.

I was a much different person than I was before all of this. In some ways for the better, in some ways for the worse. I wasn't so bubbly and optimistic anymore. I was more serious, but I had matured. I had to grow up during those eleven days in the arena.

What can I say, the games changed me. They change everyone.

**Well that's the end. Thank you to everyone who's been reading it. I really hope you liked it. **


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